In March and April 2025, ORF America in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the National Cyber Security Authority of Albania, and the Center for the Study of Democracy and Governance hosted two online convenings on countering cybercrime in the Western Balkans with regional experts.
The group assessed cybercrime challenges in the Western Balkans region to consider and push for practical solutions in two specific areas tied to cybercrime: i) improving incident reporting, evidence gathering, and storage ii) facilitating private sector technical assistance.
These areas were selected based on conversations with cybersecurity experts in the Western Balkans — in Skopje in June 2022 and September 2023, and in Tirana in November 2024. Twenty-five experts from government, the private sector, civil society, academia, and law enforcement organizations from the Western Balkan provided input and ideas on the two issues over a four-week period.
Following those discussions, ORF America conducted additional research and prepared a report, which includes recommendations for specific sets of actors at the regional, national, and societal levels within Western Balkan economies to mitigate and address cybercrime. Read the report here.
These convenings were part of a larger Global Cyber Dialogue Series being organized by ORF America and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands which seeks to convene regional dialogues to address key cyber challenges, strengthen multi-stakeholder networks, and increase coordination of regional capacity building initiatives.