President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree establishing the National Cybersecurity Agency (NCA), a new centralized state body designed to protect the country from growing digital threats, including hacker operations of Russian and Iranian origin.
The NCA is being formed on the basis of the Electronic Security Service and placed under the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport. The agency’s responsibilities include monitoring cyber threats, protecting data centers and critical information infrastructure, supporting the implementation of artificial intelligence technologies, and developing the regulatory framework in the field of cybersecurity.
The context for the decree includes February 2025, when Azerbaijani media outlets were hit by a large-scale cyberattack. The head of the Temporary Parliamentary Commission on Countering External Interference and Hybrid Threats, Rauf Namazov, linked it to the Russian APT29 group, also known as Cozy Bear, Midnight Blizzard, and The Dukes. In his assessment, the attack was a response from Moscow to Baku’s decision to close the Russian House cultural center and its intention to shut down the Sputnik office in the country.
At the same time, Azerbaijan is expanding its technological alliance with the United States. On June 2, during the Baku Energy Week, the first Azerbaijan–U.S. Economic Dialogue took place in Baku. The sides identified cooperation priorities: energy, investment, regional connectivity, artificial intelligence, and digital infrastructure. Following the visit of the U.S. delegation, commercial agreements worth more than $8 billion were signed.
Taken together, these steps demonstrate a clear strategy. Baku is building a centralized cybersecurity model on a Western pattern to increase the state’s resilience to hybrid threats from Russia. The protection covers critical information infrastructure, government digital services, data centers, and the media space.
