Kosovo has faced an increasing number of cyberattacks on its public institutions in recent years.
Some of these attacks are suspected to have been carried out by pro-Russian hacker groups, aiming to destabilize state systems and influence citizens’ trust in institutions.
One of the latest attacks was reported on February 9th, during the night of parliamentary elections, targeting the platform for publishing the results of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
However, neither the CEC, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, nor the State Prosecutor’s Office provided further details on the incident.
Rise in Cyber Threats
Cyberattacks have spared neither individuals, banks, nor official websites of Kosovo’s institutions.
The most significant cases occurred in 2018 and 2024, with attacks attributed to hacker groups such as “ServerKillers,” “DixhitalRevolt,” and “Matryoshka44.”
In some instances, these groups used channels on Telegram to claim responsibility for the attacks and to issue warnings about Kosovo.
Cybersecurity expert Blerton Abazi states that identifying and capturing these groups is difficult, as they hide their IP addresses and use encrypted networks for communication.
“In some cases, security services can track them through their posts on social media,” he added.
Technical Problems or Organized Attacks?
Professor Blerim Rexha from the field of Computer Engineering emphasizes that in some cases, problems with online systems are not directly linked to cyberattacks but rather to inadequate configurations of the websites.
According to him, the CEC platform may have needed technical optimizations to prevent service interruptions during the election process.
On the other hand, Cactus, the company that developed the application for processing election results for the CEC, confirmed that the site was targeted by continuous attacks on the night of the elections and the day after.
However, the responsibility for protecting this platform lay with the Agency for Information Society (ASHI), which manages Kosovo’s digital infrastructure.
Who Should Protect Kosovo from Cyberattacks?
Currently, cybersecurity in Kosovo is in the hands of several institutions: ASHI, the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, the Cybercrime Unit within the Kosovo Police, and the National Cybersecurity Unit.
However, according to the new Law on Cybersecurity, Kosovo is expected to establish a special Cybersecurity Agency, which will operate within the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has not yet provided a response regarding the functioning of this agency.
In December 2024, a competition was opened for its director, but it was canceled due to the failure to meet the criteria. /REL
