Stortinget (Storting), the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo, said that it was a victim of a hack that targeted its internal email system.
In a press release, Stortinget's director Marianne Andreassen explained that the hackers managed to breach "a small number of parliamentary representatives and employees".
By hacking into the system, the hackers stole various amounts of information.
"Our analyzes show that different amounts of data have been downloaded."
Andreassen said the incident is under investigation, and because of that, she couldn't provide any significant insight into who was the culprit, or the number of hacked accounts.
Stortinget has already reported the case to the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), and has also started notifying impacted representatives and employees about the incident.
PST er kjent med IT-angrepet mot Stortinget. Når PST har mottatt anmeldelsen vil vi vurdere om det er grunnlag for å starte etterforskning. https://t.co/UIuqeXgaea
— PST (@PSTnorge) September 1, 2020
"PST is aware of the IT attack on the Storting," a tweet from PST's official Twitter account reads. "Once PST has received the report, we will assess whether there is a basis for starting an investigation."
Director Marianne Andreassen added that, the parliament is taking "the matter very seriously, and we have full attention to analyzing the situation to get an overall picture of the incident and the potential extent of damage."
"A number of risk-reducing immediate measures were implemented to stop the attack. These measures had an immediate effect. Event management has the highest priority. We must constantly work with IT security against a demanding threat picture. New measures are being considered on an ongoing basis to strengthen security in the Storting."
Addressing the incident, the parliament's IT staff has shut down its email service to prevent the hackers from siphoning more data.
About a month later, Norway accuses Russia as the culprit. Russia denies this. Officials in Moscow rejected the claim, calling it a “serious and willful provocation.”
Norway's allegation comes during a time of increasingly strained relations with Russia. Both countries share an Arctic border, and Norway is a member of NATO, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously described as a threat to Russia.
At the time of the accusation, Normay's officials didn't come with any technical or concrete evidence.
Previously, Norwegians healthcare was breached, affecting more than half of the nation's population.
