Russia behind cyberattack on parliament: Norway

Norway has accused Russia of launching a cyberattack on theNorwegian parliament in August through which they had targetted the email system of the parliament.

The accusation has been made bythe Norwegian foreign minister.“Based on the information available to the government, it is our assessment that Russia stood behind this activity,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Soreide said in a statement on Tuesday.

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“The fact that we go out with an attribution is a strong signal … from Norwegian authorities,” Soreide added.

Norway hadrevealed on September 01 that they had sustained an attack on their parliamentary system in the last week of August during which email accountsof several members of the parliament and employees were hacked.

Whle announcing about the attack, Norway had not issued names of any suspects. However, when investigation revealed Russia's involvement, Norway could not accept such attacks on its democratic institutions and had to take the bold step of publically revealing the information.

“We cannot accept that parliament is the subject of such attacks,” Soreide said.

These accusations have been denied by the Russian authorities, as per several reports. However, Russia has not yet officially issued a statement.

The countries share a border in the Arctic and have maintained good relations throughout the years, except for since 2014when the relations became a bit strained due to thethe Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.