Russia was suspected earlier this year of concluding a “major” cyber-attack on the Norwegian Parliament.
In the month of August, unauthorized persons were ready to hack the e-mail accounts of a variety of elected members of the Storting, Norway’s single-chamber parliament. Cyber-criminals have attacked some accounts belonging to staff members of parliament.
An undisclosed volume of information was taken within the attack that involved some members of Norway’s largest opposition party, the Labour Party.
Speaking to the Norwegian press just after the incident, the director of the Norwegian Parliament, Marianne Andreassen, said, “We do not know who’s behind it.” However, on Tuesday, the Norwegian secretary of state, Ine Eriksen Soereide, laid the responsibility for the attack on Russia’s door.
“It may be a significant case that has struck our most vital democratic institution,” Soereide said.
“On the premise of the data available to the govt., it’s our opinion that Russia was behind this activity.”
Soereide didn’t provide specifics of any action that Norway may have taken against its Arctic neighbor. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman refused to comment when asked by Reuters if Russia would be asked to recall its ambassador or any of its diplomats from Norway.
In September 2018, a Russian IT consultant named Mikhail Bochkaryov was detained at Oslo Airport after an odd activity at an IT conference held within Norway’s Parliament.
Bochkaryov, an employee of the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament, engaged in an exceeding seminar organized by the ecu Centre for Parliamentary Study and Documentation on the Digitalization Method of Storage.
Norway’s Police Surveillance Service (PST) said that the IT specialist had been detained on suspicion of unauthorized intelligence operations.
Russia’s foreign ministry summoned Norway’s ambassador to protest the detention and demand the discharge of Bochkaryov, a member of NATO, from Norway. After several weeks of arrest, Bochkaryov was released for complimentary and returned to Moscow.
In 2017, Norway accused APT 29 of effecting spear-phishing attacks on Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the military, and other organizations. Arne Christian Haugstoyl, a PST official, said that the organization, which has “links to the Russian authorities,” had attacked nine separate email addresses.
