infotechlead

Norwegian government ministries hit by cyber attack

Twelve Norwegian government ministries have been hit by a cyber attack, Norway’s Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development said in a statement on Monday.
Cybersecurity for CSOsThis is the latest attack to hit the public sector of Europe’s largest gas supplier and NATO’s northernmost member.

“We identified a weakness in the platform of one of our suppliers. That weakness has now been shut,” Erik Hope, head of the government agency in charge of providing services to ministries, told a news conference.

The attack was identified due to “unusual” traffic on the supplier’s platform, Hope said, declining to provide specifics. It was uncovered on July 12 and was being investigated by police.

“It is too early to say who is back this and what is the extent of the impact (of the attack),” he said.

Norway is Europe’s largest gas supplier after a drop in Russian gas flows and Western Europe’s largest oil exporter.

The PM’s office as well as the foreign, defence, justice ministries were not affected because they use a different IT platform, said Hope.

Norway’s state sector has been hit by cyber attacks previously, including in June 2022, when a so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack took place, blamed on a “criminal pro-Russian group”.

NATO-member Norway shares a border with Russia in the Arctic and supports Ukraine with weapons, humanitarian aid and money.

The number of cyber attacks tripled between 2019 and 2021, the country’s cyber security agency said in its latest risk assessment report in February, with the number of serious incidents in 2022 at the same level as in 2021.

Latest

More like this
Related

Beware of cybersecurity scams during summer holidays: Check Point warns of travel-related phishing surge

With the summer vacation season in full swing, cybercriminals...

Microsoft offers free AI-powered cybersecurity program to European governments

Microsoft has launched a new cybersecurity initiative aimed at...

Hackers exploit modified Salesforce tool to breach corporate networks and steal data

Cybercriminals are weaponizing a modified version of Salesforce’s Data...

CrowdStrike Q1 revenue jumps 20% on enterprise wins, Falcon Flex surge, and AI innovation

CrowdStrike has reported 20 percent increase in its first-quarter...