Information Network Security Administration

Agency overview
Formed	2006
Jurisdiction	Government of Ethiopia
Headquarters	Wollo Sefer, Ethio China St,Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Employees	Classified
Annual budget	Classified
Agency executive	Tigist Hamid, Director General of the Information Network Security Administration
Parent agency	Office of Prime Minister of Ethiopia
Website	https://www.insa.gov.et

TheInformation Network Security Administration orINSA (Amharic:የመረጃ መረብ ደህንነት አስተዳደር,romanized: Yemereja Mereb Dehninet Astedader) is the nationalsignals intelligence andcybersecurity agency ofEthiopia, founded when theEthiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) was the ruling party of Ethiopia.^[1]

The Information Network Security Administration (INSA) was established during theEthiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) era.^[1] As part of thewar on terror, Ethiopia emerged as an 'anchor state' for American policy and Western interests in the Horn of Africa. Modelled after theNational Security Agency, INSA was created with support from theUnited States government, particularly in the context of the2006 invasion of Somalia aimed at toppling an Islamic government. The original purpose of the agency was to intercept and analyze intelligence primarily fromSomalia.^[2]

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.^{[citation needed]} Among the initial activities of INSA was spying on dissidents among theEthiopian diaspora using "sophisticated intrusion and surveillance software", and to lay legal charges against journalists and opposition activists and politicians of "treason" and "terrorism".^[1]The Council of Ministers Regulation No.250/2011 and Proclamation No.808/2013 updated the initial legal definitions of INSA.^[3]

In 2021, INSA shifted to new headquarters in a building constructed near Wello Sefer at a cost ofBr 2.1 billion. The new building is shared by theMinistry of Peace, Artificial Intelligence Center, and Financial Intelligence Center.^[4]

On 20 April 2018,Temesgen Tiruneh was appointed Director-General of INSA,^[5] who later become director ofNISS. As of February 2021, the head of INSA wasShumete Gizaw.^[6] In 2024Tigist Hamid became Director-General of INSA,^[7] replacing Solomon Soka.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2018, responsibility for INSA was given to theMinistry of Peace.^[8] It was reverted to the office of the prime minister in October 2021.^[9]

INSA stated in 2023 that during nine months, it had limited the damage from 4400 attempted and successfulcyberattacks against Ethiopian institutions.^[10]

INSA plays a role insurveillance andinternet censorship in close cooperation withEthio telecom and other government agencies. As of 2014^[update], INSA had the technical ability to listen to livemobile phone calls, while Ethio telecom did not.^[11] In 2013, INSA employees had access to the email and other passwords of users of Woredanet (funded by theWorld Bank and theAfrican Development Bank), Schoolnet (funded by the World Bank and theUnited Nations Development Programme), and Agrinet.^[11]: 61

In 2014,Human Rights Watch found that INSA played a significant role in police and security services' surveillance of Ethiopian citizens' private communications that led to thearbitrary detention of political dissidents.^[11][12]

In 2019, INSA was the subject of notoriety when acrack revealed that more than half of a sample of 300 agents were usingextremely simple passwords.^[13]

In 2021, INSA ran accounts promoting Ethiopian federal government points of view onFacebook. 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 Ethiopiansocial media network.^[10]

• 2006 establishments in Ethiopia
• Government agencies established in 2006
• Government agencies of Ethiopia
• Signals intelligence agencies

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