NATO on Thursday condemned a cyberattack on Albania that Tirana and Washington blamed on Iran, and pledged to bolster the alliance member's defences against hackers.

"We stand in solidarity with Albania following the recent cyber attack on its national information infrastructure," NATO allies said.

"We strongly condemn such malicious cyber activities designed to destabilise and harm the security of an Ally, and disrupt the daily lives of citizens."

The alliance pledged to "support Albania in strengthening its cyber defence capabilities to withstand and repel such malicious cyber activities in the future."

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Wednesday accused Iran of directing a cyberattack against Albanian institutions on July 15 in a bid to "paralyse public services and hack data and electronic communications from the government systems."

Albania, which joined NATO in 2009, broke diplomatic relations with Tehran in retaliation.

The two countries have been bitter foes for years, since the Balkan state began hosting members of the opposition People's Mujahedeen of Iran, or Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), on its soil.

The US warned of "further action" against Iran as it condemned what it called the "unprecedented" cyberattack against ally Albania.

Iran rejected the accusation it was behind the cyberattack as "baseless" and called Albania's decision to sever diplomatic ties "an ill-considered and short-sighted action".

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Israeli defence minister's cleaner sentenced for spying attempt
Jerusalem (AFP) Sept 6, 2022
A man employed as a cleaner in Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz's home was sentenced to three years' prison for attempting to spy for Iran-linked hackers, the justice ministry said Tuesday. Omri Goren Gorochovsky, a 38-year-old resident of the central city of Lod, had been employed along with his partner as a cleaner in Gantz's home in Rosh Haayin outside Tel Aviv. He was arrested in November last year and charged with attempting to spy for the Black Shadow group after offering to pass infor ... read more