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It was last week that the alarm was sounded in the Storting and the National Security Authority was notified: the National Assembly was under hacking and several email accounts were affected.
Yesterday, the Storting administration came out with the news and announced that they would report the matter to the police.
– The Storting has attractive information, for example, for the intelligence of foreign powers. There is information about what politicians are concerned about, who they are talking to and their positions. It is a high gain. It appears to be a targeted attack, says security expert Simen Sommerfeldt.
Sommerfeldt has been commissioned by part of the Storting to improve IT security and is therefore familiar with the Storting systems.
Today, the Police Security Service (PST) decided to start investigating the attack.
– We will try to find out if there is a state actor behind it. One of our hypotheses is that a state actor with whom we do not have cooperation on security policies is behind the attack. Senior Advisor Annett Aamodt at PST tells Dagbladet.
– The hack is not directed at me.
In the middle of the threat image
Aamodt further refers to the latest national threat assessment, which states that “computer network operations constitute a long-term and persistent threat to Norway. Regardless of national borders and without special warning, a threat actor can cause great harm to Norwegian businesses and infrastructure. “
Aamodt does not want to answer the question of whether one sees the TI attack in connection with the recent expulsion of a Russian diplomat for espionage from Norway.
Security expert Sommerfeldt says that all IT systems have an “accepted risk” built in. This means that you will never be able to protect yourself 100 percent from attacks.
– Although the Storting has good security, it also has an accepted risk. There is always a balance between security, on the one hand, and not making it too difficult for politicians and employees to use the information, on the other. If they make it too difficult, users will use less secure solutions. The attackers may have done an analysis of where the accepted risk lies, says Sommerfeldt.
Extensive IT attack on the Storting
Hidden clues
– The attacks that are most effective come after you have investigated and understood your system settings. The attackers may have used “social engineering” to find out who works there and if there are any vulnerabilities in them. They can trick those details and use them to gain access, explains Sommerfeldt.
– What traces will remain after this type of attack? And will the guilty be found?
– I think those who have done this are good at hiding their tracks. If they find out who is behind this, it is also not certain that the Norwegian authorities will accept it. There will be compensation. If we hypothetically think that they are Russian or Chinese, it will be compensation if one benefits from dating him. There is always a balance of terror. If it makes a fuss, the other country can also make a fuss about something Norway has done, says Sommerfeldt.
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