Information Network Security Agency

The Irity Agency or INSA (Amharic: የመረጃ መረብ ደህንነት ኤጀንሲ, romanized: yämäräǧa märäbə dähənənätə ʼeǧänəsi) is the national signals intelligence and cybersecurity agency of Ethiopia, founded by Abiy Ahmed when the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) was the ruling party of Ethiopia.[1]

Information Network Security Agency
Formation2006
Location
Director General
Shumete Gizaw
Parent organization
Ministry of Peace (Ethiopia)
Websitehttps://insa.gov.et

Creation

The was founded by Abiy Ahmed, who later (in 2018) became Prime Minister of Ethiopia, during the EPRDF's period in power. INSA's founding role was to spy on dissidents among the Ethiopian diaspora using "sophisticated intrusion and surveillance software", and to lay legal charges against journalists and opposition activists and politicians of "treason" and "terrorism".[1]

Leadership and structure

On 20 April 2018, Temesgen Tiruneh was appointed Director-General of INSA.[2] Who later become director of NISS. As of Februarys 2021 the head of INSA was Shumete Gizaw.[3]

In October 2018, responsibility for INSA was given to the Ministry of Peace.[4]

Password incident

In 2019, INSA was the subject of notoriety when a crack revealed that more than half of a sample of 300 agents were using extremely simple passwords.[5]

References
  1. "Editorial: Ethiopia must end intimidation campaign against academics and activists". Awash Post. 2020-12-05. Archived from the original on 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  2. "PM appoints Federal Gov't Officials". Walta. 20 April 2018. Archived from the original on 2019-10-13. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  3. "Norwegian professor's life threatened by Ethiopians". Bergens Tidende/Tghat. 2021-02-11. Archived from the original on 2021-02-13. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  4. Shaban, Abdur Rahman Alfa (2018-10-17). "Ethiopia's Minister of Peace: the country's most powerful woman?". Africanews. Archived from the original on 2020-12-23. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  5. Kay, Felicity (30 May 2019). "Report: Ethiopian INSA Agents Hacked: 142 agents chose the predictable password 'P@$$w0rd'". Safety Detectives. Archived from the original on 2021-08-12. Retrieved 13 October 2019.


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