Presidents of Estonia and Albania Attend Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia Cybersecurity Exercise

The 6-9 June “live fire cyber drill” exercise, organised by the e-Governance Academy (eGA) and Cybexer Technologies, is part of the EU-funded Rapid Response Project to improve cyber-resilience in the Western Balkans, and focused on enhancing Albania’s Montenegro’s and North Macedonia’s ability to respond to cyberattacks.

President of Albania Bajram Begaj and President of Estonia Alar Karis observed the exercise as part of President Karis’ official working visit to Albania.

"Joint efforts are needed to strengthen the resilience of cyberspace of the Western Balkan partners, and to raise the region’s public authorities’ awareness of cybersecurity. Engaging the best knowledge and experts, the European Union supports Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia in achieving this goal," said EU Ambassador to Albania, Christiane Hohmann.

The activity provided the 30 participants with a practical experience to defend IT systems under intense cyberattacks. The exercise environment was provided by a NATO-awarded Estonian cybersecurity company, Cybexer Technologies.

“Our everyday lives are dependent on the resilience of our cyberspace. Practicing response to cyber attacks in a crisis simulated environment is a good way to expand the cyber safety of our critical infrastructures and services. This exercise is an excellent opportunity for the training audience to practice interagency cooperation and information sharing,“ said the Project Team Lead from the Estonian e-Governance Academy, Merle Maigre.

“Such exercises provide a unique opportunity to elaborate scenarios of countering cyberattacks under conditions close to reality and ensure the aligned work of teams, as well as enhance skills to respond to cyber incidents,” stated by the General Director of National Authority on Electronic Certification and Cyber Security of Albania, Igli Tafa. „The project has great importance for Albania after the recent cyber security issues and threats,“ he added

The cyber drill was provided under the project „Cybersecurity Rapid Response for Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia“ funded by the European Union. With a budget of 2.6 million euros, and running since August 2022 and throughout 2023, the project aims to improve the cyber capabilities of the countries, handling of cyber incidents and amplify the effectiveness of cyber risk management. The project is implemented by the e-Governance Academy, Estonia. More information is available at https://ega.ee/project/cybersecurity-rapid-response-albania-montenegro-north-macedonia/.

Alongside this rapid response project, the e-Governance Academy is leading implementation of a comprehensive regional project “EU Support to Western Balkans Cybersecurity Capacity Building”, lasting from March 2023 to February 2026 and supporting the key institutions in the entire region on its path to greater cyber resilience.