The Norwegian military has admitted it was hit by a “massive” phishing cyber attack in March, according to a report from Techworld.com.
The attack began in an e-mail sent to select members of the defense ministry from what appeared to be another Norwegian government agency. An enclosed attachment containing a virus was discovered, warnings were issued and no classified information was taken, the military.
The cyber attack came days after Norwegian fighter jets bombed Libyan targets at the end of March, fulfilling their involvement in an UN-backed coalition. Several outlets, including an Associated Press report
(translated from Norwegian), suggested that the cyber attack was
triggered by Norway’s decision to send troops to the escalating campaign in Libya.
However, targeted phishing attacks, where malicious files are attached to e-mails sent to individuals, have long been a threat. The attack against RSA’s SecurID product in March was sparked by a smaller-scale phishing campaign that launched a bogus Flash file embedded in an Excel file. At the same time, U.S. government and military Web sites have been targeted by malicious hackers looking to glean sensitive information.
Read more on this at Techworld.
