Twelve Norwegian Ministries Hit by Cyber Attack
Updated: Jan 8, 2024
The Norwegian government announced on Monday that twelve of its ministries were targeted in a recent cyber attack, marking the latest incident against the public sector in NATO's northernmost member and Europe's biggest provider of natural gas.
The Norwegian government agency responsible for providing services to government ministries said it uncovered an exploit in one of its supplier's platforms on July 12th.
The agency's head, Erik Hope, said at a news conference that they identified the breach due to "unusual" traffic and shut down the weakness. Authorities are currently investigating the attack.
While it remains unclear who was behind the strike and the full impact, Hope confirmed that the prime minister's office and the foreign, defense and justice ministries were unaffected since they operate on a separate IT system.
This incident comes after Norway's state sector suffered a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack in June 2022 attributed to a “criminal pro-Russian group.”
As a NATO member sharing a border with Russia in the Arctic, Norway has provided Ukraine with weapons, aid and funding amid the ongoing war. The country's cyber security agency noted that cyber attacks tripled between 2019 and 2021, with 2022 on track to match last year's record high number of serious episodes.
12 Norwegian government ministries suffered a cyber attack uncovered on July 12
Attack exploited a vulnerability in a supplier's platform, now shut down
Incident follows previous cyber strikes on Norway's public sector
Norway is Europe's top gas supplier and supports Ukraine against Russia
Source: REUTERS