Azerbaijan Creates Cybersecurity Agency Under Digital Ministry

By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk

Azerbaijan has established a National Cybersecurity Agency under the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport, turning the ministry's Electronic Security Service into a new public legal entity responsible for cyber defense, infrastructure protection and threat monitoring.

President Ilham Aliyev signed the decree on June 2 to improve governance in the field of cybersecurity, the ministry said. The decree establishes the agency under the ministry's authority on the basis of the Electronic Security Service, placing the new body inside Azerbaijan's digital-development structure rather than creating a separate emergency unit.

The official English name is listed as the National Cybersecurity Agency, with NCA as its abbreviated form. Its mandate covers state policy implementation in cybersecurity, protection of information resources and information systems, coordination with public and private infrastructure operators and preventive measures against cyber incidents.

The ministry's permanent structure page now lists the body as the National Cybersecurity Agency public legal entity. That placement makes the agency part of Azerbaijan's state digital infrastructure, covering cybersecurity governance, information systems and protection of digital assets.

The Russian and Iranian dimension comes from a separate Ukrainian intelligence assessment. Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service linked the Azerbaijani decision to cyber operations of Russian and Iranian origin, including attacks on Azerbaijani media and digital infrastructure. That attribution is not part of the Azerbaijani presidential decree and should be treated as Kyiv's assessment, not Baku's official wording.

The decision gives Baku a central cybersecurity body for systems that support government services, infrastructure operators and information resources, categories listed in the agency charter. Those systems matter beyond domestic administration because Azerbaijan's energy routes, railway links, port operations and customs procedures sit on the transport corridor between the Caspian Sea, Türkiye and Europe.

The Türkiye connection runs through that corridor system. Azerbaijani state networks, energy infrastructure, rail links, port connections and customs systems support the Azerbaijan-Türkiye strategic corridor and Middle Corridor traffic, making cybersecurity part of the operating layer behind pipelines, freight routes and border procedures.

Sources: Azerbaijan Presidency, Azerbaijan Ministry of Digital Development and Transport, APA, Ukraine Foreign Intelligence Service, UNN, Bosphorus News review and reporting.