This year, several Norwegian companies were exposed to various forms of computer attacks. Recently, both Nortura and Amedia have been targets of criminal hackers. The Storting system and the two municipalities have also been compromised this year. But who is behind it?

Elisabeth Haugsbø, is the so-called ethical hacker, and is vice president of the Tekna union. On behalf of the company, he has helped them defend against any computer attack.

Haugsb says that often criminal organizations are behind larger attacks. And within organizations, people are hired and work with hacking as if it were a completely normal job.

– There are people who have this job as usual, which is 8 to 16. For them, this is how they make money. This happens all the time. It’s not something that goes away all the time.

Norway is attacked at night

Ethical hackers also refer to websites that exhibit persistent data attacks. These pages often chart the attacks that occurred the day before.

Haugsb, on the other hand, says that these websites are not something you can trust blindly, but they do provide an indication of how often and when attacks occur. When people work in Asia, it’s night in Norway.

– If you look at the time zone in Asia which is 8-10 hours ahead of us; when they leave for the day, it brings down traffic. There are big companies that are only involved in computer crime, including in Asia and Russia.

Data attack in 2021

On New Year’s Eve, a press release came from Nordland County Municipality that they had been the target of a computer attack. This caused local governments to shut down a number of administrative and professional computer systems, including senior secondary and vocational schools.

Other big attacks this year:

It’s impossible to protect yourself

The National Security Authority (NSM) helps Norwegian companies fight computer attacks.

There they have seen triple the number of computer attacks in a short period of time. More than 80 percent of incidents assisted by NSM could have been avoided with basic security measures.

Bente Hoff is head of the National Cybersecurity Center at NSM, he said that data attacks had increased since 2019.

– We expect more computer attacks in the future, said Hoff.

When asked whether one can completely guard against attacks, the answer is no.

– There will always be residual risk. But with careful preparation, you can minimize these risks.

Haugsb agrees with Hoff. He believes companies should consider restricting user access to employees or practicing attacks.

– My favorite is cyber drilling. Someone pretends to be hacked and then says, what should we do now? Or you can run an attack where you have control over who attacks.

Money is motivation

Several attacks this year have been about ransomware viruses. Hoff adds that it’s not just money and sensitive information that motivates hackers.

– Often it’s money, yes. But it can also be about gaining access to information or sabotage.

Ethical hackers say that if criminals understand that they are sitting on sensitive and valuable information, they can demand a lot of money.

– This is so that they don’t in all cases have the information they say they have. But mostly they have it.