TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The Albanian government said Tuesday it would hire a U.S. firm to bolster its cybersecurity following a major leak last month.

The country and Virginia-based Jones Group International signed a memorandum of understanding in the Albanian capital of Tirana “on enhancing the security of digital systems”, Prime Minister Edi Rama said.

The Jones group – led by retired General James L. Jones, a former national security adviser and Supreme Allied Commander Europe – would first perform a “comprehensive analysis of our systems to check how they are exposed to attack national and foreign,” said the Minister of Infrastructure. said Belinda Balluku.

He would then plan a strategy on how to install multi-layered protection systems to prevent cyberattacks in a country where people can find more than 90% of their public administration services online.

In December, the personal details of some 690,000 people, including identity card numbers and employment and salary data, were leaked from a government database of public and private employees. . The data was widely shared through messaging apps. Four public and private officials were arrested, then released as part of an ongoing investigation.

Another leak of ID card records from a state database occurred ahead of Albania’s parliamentary elections in April.

Albania has been a member of NATO since 2009 and expects the European Union to agree to one day start formal negotiations on its full membership of the 27-nation bloc.