Norway blames ‘criminal pro-Russian group’ for cyber attack: What we know

Norway’s National Security Authority (NSA) on Wednesday blamed a “criminal pro-Russian group” for carrying out a so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) cyber attack in the last 24 hours. The attack targeted a number of institutions in the country.

Several private and public institutions offering important services were hit by the group, the agency said. However, authorities did not name the institutions affected. 

“We are working to find out whether there is a link with state-sponsored actors,” NSM chief Sofie Nystroem told broadcaster TV2. “We are quite certain that no sensitive information was taken.”

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On Wednesday, the website of the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority was unavailable. Norwegian media reported that it had been among those subject to the attack.

“We’ve seen similar attacks in other countries recently although none of them have reported any lasting impact,” NSM said.

According to the newspaper Dagbladet, a few of the web portals were taken down by the Russian group’s DoS (denial of service) and DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks. 

The attack on Norway comes just two days after the same group claimed cyberattacks on governmental and private institutions in Lithuania. It is believed that this attack was allegedly in retaliation for stopping the transit of goods to Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. However, there is no official confirmation of the same.

Meanwhile, Norway on Wednesday said that it will be sending three multiple-launch rocket systems to Ukraine, following similar decisions made by Britain, Germany and the United States, to fight against Russian forces.

“We must continue to support Ukraine so that they can continue their fight for freedom and independence,” Norwegian Defence Minister Bjorn Arild Gram said in a statement.

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“Our guns require extensive upgrading, therefore we have agreed with the British that they receive Norwegian guns so that they can send some of theirs to Ukraine,” the minister added, hailing “good cooperation between allies.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has entered its fifth month with thousands of people being killed in the war, and millions displaced or forced to flee the war-torn country.