An Iranian hacking group claimed on Tuesday to have targeted the Albanian parliament, which confirmed it had been targeted by "a sophisticated cyberattack aimed at deleting data and compromising several internal systems."

"All conversations and correspondence of corrupt MPs from recent months are in the hands of Homeland Justice. We are much closer to you than you think. Did you really protect these murderers and child killers? We will make sure that this shame sticks to you forever," the Homeland Justice hacking group threatened in a message in Albanian on its Telegram channel.

This group, known to be close to the Iranian regime, has already attacked Albania's computer infrastructure on several occasions, in reaction to the small Balkan country's hosting of several thousand members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI or MEK), an organization considered "terrorist" by Tehran.

According to initial analyses, "the main working infrastructure was not affected," the parliament wrote in a statement, explaining that on Monday evening, around 9:00 PM (8:00 PM GMT), "unauthorized access to its IT infrastructure was detected."

According to the same statement, this was a "sophisticated cyberattack, aimed at deleting data and compromising several internal systems", which however did not affect "the systems ensuring the functioning of the institution".

"A cyberattack targeting the email system of the Albanian Parliament was reported today," the director of the national cybersecurity authority, Saimir Kapllani, confirmed to AFP.

He specified that a working group tasked with analyzing the incident has been set up, and "teams are on the ground to carry out a technical analysis and take the necessary measures."

In June, Homeland Justice had already attacked the IT systems of the Albanian capital, Tirana. In the summer of 2022, the country's IT systems were targeted, prompting Albania to sever ties with Tehran.

Albanian politics is regularly marred by corruption scandals, which affect members of parties across the political spectrum. Former Deputy Prime Minister and close associate of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama, Belinda Balluku, has been indicted on corruption charges for several weeks.