Regional Platform: Urgently Investigate Cyber Attacks on Patria Agency and N1 Portal

The Western Balkan Regional Platform for Advocacy of Media Freedoms and Journalist Safety, representing more than 8,000 members, strongly condemns the hacker attacks on the News Agency Patria (NAP) from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the web portal of television N1 from Serbia.

The News Agency Patria (NAP) has been under strong hacker attacks in recent days, which prevented the normal functioning of the web portal and the work of the editorial office. This media house points out that this is not the first time they have been targeted by hackers and express suspicion that these are politically motivated attacks.

According to the Secretary General of the Association of BH Journalists Borka Rudić, hacker attacks on the media are largely a consequence of other forms of attacks on journalists and editorial offices, which often are not adequately sanctioned.

„Hacker attacks are most often viewed as a technical threat to the work of the media, but it is not only a technical threat, but also a professional one. Hiring hackers has now become a method through which some media are trying to be silenced so they would not publish information that is not to the liking of the ruling structures. Therefore, we must address this problem very seriously,“ Rudić emphasized.

The N1 portal was targeted by cyber attacks three times in the period from January 28 to 30, due to which it was impossible to access news on the website and application for several hours. The initial DDoS attack, which lasted several hours, originated from China, and was repeated once more during the day. High-intensity attacks continued multiple times over the next two days, from several thousand computers with the aim of overloading the web server, network, or some other part of the N1 portal infrastructure to prevent access for their users. There is still no information regarding the perpetrators and motives of the attacks.

„The fact is that the cyber attacks on N1 occurred at a time when this media launched the campaign #DaSeVidiN1 as a response to the dispute that led to the cancellation of this TV channel, which affected about one million citizens,“ said Željko Bodrožić, President of NUNS, emphasizing that it is particularly concerning that at the same time Prime Minister Ana Brnabić labeled TV N1 as a „political party“.

„We expect the Public Prosecutor for High-Tech Crime of the Republic of Serbia to react and resolve this case as soon as possible,“ added Bodrožić.

The Regional Platform demands from the competent police structures in BiH and Serbia an urgent and swift investigation of the cyber attacks on the News Agency Patria and television N1, and informing the public about the measures they will take to protect media freedom and their safe work.

Skopje – Belgrade – Podgorica – Priština – Sarajevo – Zagreb, 06.02.2020.

Association of BH Journalists

Media Union of Montenegro

Croatian Journalists' Association

Association of Journalists of Kosovo

Association of Journalists of Macedonia

Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia