12 Norway ministries hit by cyberattack

LONDON

At least 12 Norwegian government ministries have faced cyberattacks, according to an official statement on Monday.

“We are taking this incident very seriously,” said Minister for Municipalities and Districts Sigbjorn Gjelsvik in the press release.

The ministries in question did not have access to email or mobile services, said the government.

According to Gjelsvik, a Norwegian ministries' security and service organization (DSS) is following the situation closely and is implementing several measures to deal with the attack.

However, he also stated that additional security measures may be necessary and “this will be assessed continuously," said Gjelsvik.

A police investigation into the incident has been opened.

“Our investigations and the police's investigation will be able to provide more answers,” said Erik Hope, the head of DSS, adding at a news conference that it is too early to say anything about who might be behind the incident and about the scale of the attack.

"We have uncovered a previously unknown vulnerability in the software of one of our suppliers," he added.

Norway’s government has faced cyberattacks on several occasions in the past, including attacks in 2020 and 2021, when the Parliament was targeted by computer attacks.