As part of the continous cooperation between ALSAI and the OAGN of Norway, the Workshop on Cybersecurity II, entitled “Ethical Hacking,” was held in Vlora from 15 to 19 September 2025.

By invitation of ALSAI and the Norwegian team of experts, the workshop was also attended by representatives of peer Supreme Audit Institutions, including the Turkish Court of Accounts (TCA), the National Audit Office of Kosovo (ZKA), the Court of Audit of Slovenia, the Swedish National Audit Office (SNAO) and the State Audit Office of the Republic of North Macedonia (SAO).

With the rapid pace of digitalization, public institutions are increasingly exposed to cyber threats. Accordingly, the workshop focused on security testing in Active Directory environments and the corresponding protection methods. IT auditors must exercise increased vigilance when assessing such security tests to verify the effectiveness of security controls, strengthen the resilience of digital public services, and enhance citizens’ confidence in public institutions.

The workshop covered both the theoretical and practical stages of a security testing engagement, including information gathering, scanning and enumeration, vulnerability exploitation, maintaining access, as well as reporting and formulating recommendations. Participants also attended theoretical sessions on the fundamental concepts of ethical hacking and gained hands-on experience using practical tools for security testing in simulated environments.

On behalf of the Chairman of ALSAI, Mr. Arben Shehu, a special message of welcome was conveyed to the workshop participants, reaffirming the importance of inter-institutional cooperation in advancing technological development and strengthening institutional capacities. The message also emphasized the value of acquiring and sharing best practices in the field of cybersecurity and IT auditing.