National security

Ljubljana – The Slovenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the police were targeted in a hacking attack on Thursday, media have reported, with one outlet obtaining official confirmation from the police. While the MoD managed to block the attack, only a few police computers are reported to have been infected.

Western spy chiefs say that sophistication of Beijing's intelligence operations is now comparable to the Kremlin's.
There is growing fear in Europe that the Chinese spy and counter-intelligence services represent an ever-increasing threat to Europe, even greater than the one coming from Russia.

The new director of Moldova's SIS has vowed to reform the secret service and protect Moldova's European path. He faces challenges in the shape of a KGB legacy and war in neighbouring Ukraine.

Türkiye has started printing its own biometric passports as of Aug. 29, the country's interior minister said at a press conference held at the site where the first "fully Turkish" passport was printed.

Süleyman Soylu gathered with journalists late on Aug. 29 at the General Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality, an affiliate of his ministry, in the capital Ankara.

Montenegrin National Security Council session in Podgorica. Photo: Government of Montenegro

Since August 22, the government has reported two series of cyber-attacks on government servers, claiming they managed to prevent any damage.

The National Security Agency of Montenegro stated that several Russian agencies were behind the unprecedented cyber attack against Montenegrin institutions, BTA reported.

Montenegro's intelligence agency also said it feared the attack had not yet reached its peak and that all "key infrastructure", such as the electricity system or water supply, could be targeted.

The group behind the cyberattack against the National Natural Gas System Operator proceeded to publish part of the documents they managed to intercept from the DESFA servers.

According to the first information, the material that has reached their hands is estimated at more than 350 GB, with the experts who have dealt with the case underlining that it is a "difficult case".

An Albanian biometric passport. Photo courtesy: Bevis Fusha / Safran

After first changing the law on private-public partnerships (PPP) by adding the citizenship programmes to lists in which the law can be used, the Albanian government is now mulling hiring private firms to promote this scheme to foreigners.

President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, a former high court judge who served as president of the Council of State, weighed in today on the issue of surveillance of citizens by the EYP National Intelligence Service, calling for strict enforcement of the relevant constitutional provisions.

He told jurors that the CIA and FBI made him a scapegoat for an embarrassing public release of a trove of CIA secrets by WikiLeaks in 2017