The Minister of Defense Niko Peleshi this Tuesday, accompanied by the Minister for State, Youth and Children, paid an official visit to Israel.
They have participated in a conference organized by IMPROVATE, an organization that works to advance Israeli technology and serves as a platform to connect leaders, decision-makers or investors with technology and innovation companies.
Peleshi was the keynote speaker at one of the panels on the topic: “Cyber Defense”. The Minister in his speech emphasized the fact that the countries of the Western Balkans lost a lot of time in a wrong system before the ‘90s, so now we have to run to reach the countries advanced in technology. Therefore, the Minister of Defense, from the beginning of his speech, invited the Israeli capital businesses for innovative ventures.
Among other things, Peleshi said that developments in the field of information and communication technology have brought great benefits, but at the same time as great challenges and threats, which makes cyber defense and security vital. At this point, the minister called for greater commitment, co-operation and greater international co-ordination to provide security against cyber-attacks of any kind.
“Developed countries will certainly lead, but at the same time they must assist, support and help others to advance and build the resilience and tools needed in cyberspace. We are witnessing an increase in cyber attacks on infrastructure services. Malicious entities are exploiting the use of the Internet, which has created vulnerabilities for their security. Moreover, during the pandemic, especially in 2020, we switched to distance work. “This created rich ground and now it is easier than ever to execute any cyber attack”, said Minister Peleshi.
According to the Minister of Defense, “cyber attacks threaten to attack the core of liberal democracies, the free will of modern societies.” He spoke about the efforts being made by the Albanian government, which is investing more and more in innovation, technology and digital infrastructure to provide digital services to our citizens.
“As a NATO ally, Albania also recognizes cyberspace as the fifth domain of war, along with land, sea, air and space. Thus, we have established in the Albanian Armed Forces “Military Unit for Cyber Security” and rely on our strategic partners to further develop it. Furthermore, the Albanian Ministry of Defense aims to change and set an example by creating new approaches to innovation, new synergies in the areas of military capabilities, civil defense and cyber security. “We cannot wait to offer a favorable environment for the development of innovative solutions by creating the” Innovation Ecosystem “within the Defense Institution”, stressed Minister Peleshi.
Soon the Ministry of Defense in Albania will take as part of its political responsibility the making and monitoring of cyber defense, returning to the central institution of cyber defense policies, rules, standards, not only for the space of security and defense military, but also for all other critical infrastructure systems, private and public./abcnews.al
