A cyberattack carried out by the Iranian hacker group Homeland Justice disrupted the functioning of government services in Albania’s capital, Tirana. According to local media, the incident occurred at the end of last week and took down the city’s official website, also affecting the operations of local authorities, as reported by The Record
The hackers claimed they had completely destroyed the city’s website, extracted data, and wiped the servers. As the motive for the attack, they cited the presence in Albania of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), which has been based on a secured compound in the country since 2013. This organization has long been a source of tension in relations between Tehran and Tirana and is frequently the target of Iranian cyberattacks.
Following the attack on Friday, municipal workers faced major disruptions — access to internal systems and official email accounts was blocked. The attack affected transportation services, passport and license issuance processes, and the digital registration of children in kindergartens and nurseries. As of Monday, the city’s website remained offline.
Albania’s National Cybersecurity Authority (AKSK) condemned the attack and stated that recovery efforts are underway. This is not the first cyberattack linked to Iran. Previously, Albania’s Ministry of Justice reported similar incidents targeting the parliament, national airline, telecommunications infrastructure, and the national statistics agency.
The attack on Tirana comes amid rising tensions in the Middle East. Authorities in Israel and the U.S. have reported increased activity by Iran-linked cyber groups.
