The Information Network Security Administration or INSA () is the national

signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...

and

cybersecurity Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

agency of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, founded when the

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF; ) was an ethnic federalist political coalition in Ethiopia that existed from 1989 to 2019. It consisted of four political parties: Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Amhara ...

(EPRDF) was the ruling party of Ethiopia.

History

The Information Network Security Administration (INSA) was established during the

(EPRDF) era. As part of the War on Terror, Ethiopia emerged as an 'anchor state' for American policy and Western interests in the Horn of Africa. Modelled after the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

, INSA was created with support from the

United States government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

, particularly in the context of the 2006 invasion of Somalia aimed at toppling an Islamic government. The original purpose of the agency was to intercept and analyze intelligence primarily from

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. The legal basis of creating INSA in 2006 was the Council of Ministers Regulation No.130/2006, with goals including defence of Ethiopian information infrastructure. Among the initial activities of INSA was spying on dissidents among the

Ethiopian diaspora There are over 2.5 million Ethiopians abroad, primarily inhabited in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. In U.S, there are 250,000 to one million diaspora and 16,347 in the Netherlands according to the Dutch Central Statistics ...

using "sophisticated intrusion and surveillance software", and to lay legal charges against journalists and opposition activists and politicians of "treason" and "terrorism". The Council of Ministers Regulation No.250/2011 and Proclamation No.808/2013 updated the initial legal definitions of INSA. In 2021, INSA shifted to new headquarters in a building constructed near Wello Sefer at a cost of billion. The new building is shared by the Ministry of Peace, Artificial Intelligence Center, and Financial Intelligence Center.

Leadership and structure

On 20 April 2018, Temesgen Tiruneh was appointed Director-General of INSA, who later become director of NISS. As of February 2021, the head of INSA was Shumete Gizaw. In 2024 Tigist Hamid became Director-General of INSA, replacing Solomon Soka. In October 2018, responsibility for INSA was given to the Ministry of Peace. It was reverted back to the office of the prime minister in October 2021. Information Network Security Agency Workers

Information Network Security Agency Workers

Activities

Cyberdefence

INSA stated in 2023 that during nine months, it had limited the damage from 4400 attempted and successful

cyberattack A cyberattack (or cyber attack) occurs when there is an unauthorized action against computer infrastructure that compromises the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of its content. The rising dependence on increasingly complex and inte ...

s against Ethiopian institutions.

Surveillance

INSA plays a role in

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

and

internet censorship Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains (such as ''Wikipedia.org'', for example) but exceptionally may ...

in close cooperation with Ethio telecom and other government agencies. , INSA had the technical ability to listen to live

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

calls, while Ethio telecom did not. In 2013, INSA employees had access to the email and other passwords of users of Woredanet (funded by the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and the

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

), Schoolnet (funded by the World Bank and the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

), and Agrinet.

Role in arrests of dissidents

In 2014,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

found that INSA played a significant role in police and security services' surveillance of Ethiopian citizens' private communications that led to the arbitrary detention of political dissidents.

2019 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.

Social networks

In 2021, INSA ran accounts promoting Ethiopian federal government points of view on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. Facebook closed the accounts, describing them as "inauthentic". The Director of INSA described the accounts as covering "the reality in Ethiopia" and stated that INSA would develop an Ethiopian social media network.

References

2006 establishments in Ethiopia Government agencies established in 2006 Government agencies of Ethiopia Signals intelligence agencies {{ethiopia-gov-stub