Twelve Norwegian Μinistries were under cyberattack, the Norwegian government announced yesterday, in the latest attack against the public sector of a country that is NATO’s northernmost member.

They identified a weakness in the platform of one of their providers, but that weakness has been shut, Eric Hope, head of the government agency responsible for providing services to Ministries, told a press conference.

The attack was identified due to unusual traffic on the provider’s platform, said the official, who declined to provide further details. It was discovered on July 12 and is the subject of an investigation by the police authorities. It is too early to say who is behind it and what the extent of the impact of the attack is, he said.

Norway is Europe’s biggest gas supplier after the decline in Russian gas flows as well as the biggest oil exporter in western Europe.

According to Hope, the Prime Minister’s office was not affected by the attack, nor were the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Justice, as they use a different platform.

Norway’s public sector has been the target of cyberattacks in the past, such as in June 2022, when there was a ‘distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which was attributed to a pro-Russian criminal organization.

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