Norwegian state officials are in crisis-response mode after 12 of its ministries were hit in a cyberattack.
Announced on July 24, the hack left workers in the affected ministries without access to a variety of services, including email, on their mobile phones.
According to a press release published on July 24, the Norwegian Government Security and Service Organisation (DSS) has set up an emergency team to deal with the problem.
Key personnel are also being recalled from vacation over the crisis, officials confirmed.
“It is important to stress that the government is continuing to work as normal,” insisted Norwegian Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Sigbjørn Gjelsvik.
“DSS has initiated a number of security measures to protect the information on the affected ICT platform. Additional security measures may be required. This will be assessed on an ongoing basis,” he said.
The vulnerability that enabled the hack attack, which is said to have originated from a third-party platform used by the government, has now reportedly been fixed although the extent of the damage is still unknown.
Also unknown is the exact origin of the cyberattack, with some speculating that state actors such as Russia or China could be involved.
“It is still too early to say anything about who is behind the attack or the extent of the attack,” officials said, with experts also adding that the hack could be criminally motivated.
