The websites of several Norwegian companies and businesses were hit by a computer attack on Thursday morning. This applied, among others, to the websites of Statistics Norway (SSB).

Shortly after, the National Security Authority (NSM) informed that their websites had also been affected. NSM is responsible for detecting and notifying severe data attacks.

– In general, this usually happens because people try to spread anxiety and uncertainty about websites and services in Norwegian society, says communications director Hasse Lindmo.

– Websites simply receive so much traffic that they can become slow, choppy, and unavailable to people for shorter periods of time. It’s technically quite easy for companies to fix it.

NSM: – Has implemented measures

When asked if NSM, which is responsible for preventive national security, is itself well equipped against denial of service attacks, Lindmo says it’s important to clarify that it’s their website that has been affected and not the actual operation of the business.

– Our website was unstable for periods in the morning. We have measures in place that allow us to withstand quite a lot of traffic of this type, he says and continues:

– But in all such incidents, we will consider whether further action should be taken. These are events that are part of the normal picture. It is important to remember that all businesses with open and accessible websites may initially be exposed to denial of service attacks.

Statistics Norway reports statistics

NSM says they know who claims to be behind the attack, but don’t want to help pay attention to them.

– We want to explain and de-dramatize the attacks, because they often have a lot of visibility. Although the attacks do not have long-term and serious consequences from a technical point of view, they can still have other consequences. Such attacks can sow uncertainty and fear in the population and give the impression that the digital services we depend on are not sufficiently secure, Lindmo explains.

Following the data attack, Statistics Norway postponed the release of statistics that should have been released on Friday morning. The statistics will instead be released on Monday.