The Norwegian government has blamed Russia for a hacking campaign that targeted the email accounts of parliament members. The attack was deployed in August.
“This is a very serious incident, affecting our most important democratic institution… Based on the information the Government has, it is our view that Russia is responsible for these activities,” said Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide in an announcement released October 13.
While the full extent of the damage resulting from the August cyberattack has yet to be confirmed, it reportedly exfiltrated several email accounts. The Norwegian Joint Cyber Coordination Centre is still investigating the incident.
The Russian government has dismissed the allegations as baseless, citing a lack of evidence.
“We consider such accusations of our country unacceptable. We regard the incident as a serious deliberate provocation, disastrous for bilateral relations,” said representatives of the Russian embassy in Oslo in a press statement.
The data of government officials has been increasingly targeted by hackers in recent years; German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also publicly blamed Russia for the 2015 data compromise of her emails and the IT systems of the German Bundestag.
