Spasovski: Mechanisms exist to combat cyber attacks
Skopje, 7 February 2022 (MIA) – Cyber attacks are real threat for all institutions, but the news shared widely via media on Sunday was false, Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski said in regard to the news shared on social media that the Greek hacker group had taken down the Ministry of Education and Science’s computer system and taken control over surveillance cameras and website.
On Monday, the Ministry of Education and Science rebutted news that went viral on social media on Sunday.
“There has been no hacking attack on the Ministry of Education and Science, and no database or documents have been hacked and there has been no hacking attack on video surveillance system. The shared video is not from the premises of the Ministry of Education and Science or any other ministry,” Spasovski told Sitel TV when asked to comment whether and how safe are the state institutions from such cyber attacks.
He said that the state has mechanisms and that each institution works individually to protect its electronic system of data, and the Ministry of Interior is in coordination with its Department for Prevention of Cyber Crime and the Agency for Electronic Communications and that state institutions are given the necessary professional assistance to protect the system.
“There have been attempts to hacking attacks of certain websites of institutions, but due to the established defence mechanism, this did not happen. It was fake news, I think we should not bring to the attention if such a thing does not happen," Spasovski said.
Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of Education and Science rebutted news that went viral on social media that Greek hackers had taken down the Education Ministry’s computer system and taken control of the surveillance cameras and website.
“The news shared widely on social media is false. Videos allegedly shared from security cameras are not from the Ministry’s premises,” the Education Ministry said.
No attack into the Ministry’s electronic systems of databases has been detected by the relevant services and institutions tasked with investigating cyber-related incidents, it noted.