A large-scale distributed denial-of-service attack began disrupting Norway’s shared government digital services on Monday morning, targeting critical infrastructure used by public sector agencies. The assault started at 03:38 CEST and has continued to affect online platforms relied upon by government employees and citizens accessing state services. Officials confirmed the incident is ongoing and involves coordinated traffic flooding aimed at overwhelming system capacity.
The attack focuses on Norway’s centralized digital infrastructure, which hosts shared services for ministries, local administrations, and public agencies. This includes platforms for document handling, internal communications, and citizen-facing portals. By flooding these systems with malicious traffic, attackers aim to degrade performance or cause outages. Norway’s National Security Authority has acknowledged the incident and is working with IT providers to mitigate the impact and identify the source.
Cybersecurity teams are deploying traffic filtering and rate-limiting measures to distinguish legitimate users from malicious requests. Engineers are also scaling up bandwidth and redirecting traffic through scrubbing centers to absorb the volume. While some services remain accessible with delays, others experience intermittent outages. Authorities have not disclosed the attack’s origin or whether it is linked to any specific threat group, citing ongoing investigations.
Public-facing services such as tax filing portals, business registration systems, and healthcare appointment platforms have reported slowdowns or temporary unavailability. Internal government networks used for inter-agency coordination are also impacted, potentially delaying administrative processes. Citizens attempting to access online services are encountering error messages or long loading times, particularly during peak usage hours.
Is personal data at risk during this DDoS attack? Officials state that the attack is designed to disrupt availability, not to breach or steal data. There is no indication that personal or sensitive information has been compromised.
How long might the disruption last? The duration depends on the attack’s scale and the effectiveness of countermeasures. Authorities are working to restore full functionality but have not provided a timeline for when services will return to normal.
Can citizens still access essential government services? Some services remain partially accessible, though with delays. For urgent matters, officials recommend contacting agencies via phone or visiting physical offices where possible.