Russian hacker group is said to have started attacks on Norway – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country

The websites of Arbeidstilsynet and BankID are both out of operation on Wednesday morning.

Altinn also writes on its website that “they experience instability”.

– Arbeidstilsynet works to shield and delimit the attack, says department director in the department for IT and administration at Arbeidstilsynet, Vigdis Johnsen, to NRK.

NRK has been in contact with the National Security Authority, which says they will make a statement later today.

– Good morning Norway

– Good morning Norway! All departments to battle! it says in a statement Killnet has published today on the social network Telegram.

The group further refers to a news item from NRK that a Russian mining company on Svalbard is not allowed to transport Russian goods via the Norwegian mainland.

This is what should be the motivation for the attack, according to Killnet.

Will attack more institutions

The hacker group writes on their websites that they will attack the police, UDI, BankID, the ID gate at Difi, Nav and several other Norwegian websites and online services.

They are also said to have used a picture of Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt on the social media Telegram, where Huitfeldt looks like a mask from the Disney film Maleficent.

Huitfeldt is referred to as «Mrs. Error »by the group.

Attack on Lithuania yesterday

As recently as yesterday, Reuters reported that the hacker group had attacked Lithuania.

The attack on Lithuania is said to have been motivated by the fact that the Baltic country has refused Russia to send goods to the Kaliningrad enclave through their territory.

– The attack will continue until Lithuania lifts the blockade, a spokesman for Killnet told Reuters.

Romania is said to have been hit by Killnet’s attacks between April 29 and May 1, while Italy managed to strike down an attack in late May.

Among other things, British and American intelligence warned that Killnet would carry out attacks on western countries already in April.

Controls armada with “bots”

Killnet is a pro-Russian hacker group that has been behind a number of attacks on western countries over the past year.

Erling Shackt is Chief Technology Officer at Check Point, one of the world’s largest IT security companies. According to him, Killnet is a very large player.

– Every week, Killnet attacks a new country in accordance with geopolitical developments. Most often, this leader of hacktivism also suggests and defines the goals of other pro-Russian groups. The group claims to control a botnet of 4.5 million units. If this is true, it is one of the largest active botnets in the world at the moment.

A bot (by robot) is a slang term for a program that performs specific tasks.

– The type of attack stands out

– This is a form of cyber sabotage, technically called DDoS which stands for Distributed Denial of Service attacks. These are types of attacks that are intended to disrupt services on the internet by bombarding the website with traffic so that legitimate users do not have access, explains Professor Audun Jøsang at the Department of Informatics, UiO.

He says this type of attack differs from other types of attacks such as ransomware viruses, where the purpose is to make money, and espionage.

– This is something else, this is pure sabotage. They should not make money, they should not steal information, they should just destroy, says Jøsang.

Serious threats against Stoltenberg

The background for the attack is to be found in the political landscape, says Jøsang.

– They clearly state that it is about (Jens) Stoltenberg who is Secretary General of NATO. They have finally reached an agreement with Turkey so that Sweden and Finland can become members of NATO. They want to punish Norway for that because Stoltenberg is Norwegian.

Killnet has made serious threats against Stoltenberg on Telegram as well.

“I forgot to introduce you to our number one enemy, Jens Stoltenberg. This devil must answer for the life of every Russian soldier. His family will also respond, his grandchildren and his supporters, “the message reads.