12 government ministries in Norway have been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the Norwegian government said it had discovered a previously unknown vulnerability in the software of one of its suppliers which was exploited by an unknown actor.

As a result of the attack, employees working in the ministries have not had access to some mobile services, including email.

However, the Norway’s government said that work was continuing as normal, with the vulnerability now fixed.

It is not known who is behind the attack or the impact the attack will have.

The police have been informed and the Departments' Security and Service Organisation (DSS) has initiated a number of security measures to secure information on its ICT platform.

The ICT platform is used by all ministries, except the Prime Minister's office, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We take this incident very seriously,” said minister for municipalities and districts Sigbjørn Gjelsvik. “DSS works closely with the National Security Authority and the police.

“They have implemented a number of measures to deal with the attack, and we are following the situation closely,”

Earlier this month Microsoft said it mitigated attacks from “Chinese state-linked hackers” that targeted around 25 organisations including several US government agencies since 15 May 2023. The company alleges that the China-based hacker group in question, known as Storm-0558, targeted a range of customer emails with its main target being government agencies in Western Europe and with a focus on espionage, data theft, and credential access.

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