Cyber-attack on Norwegian Parliament’s networks: comment from cyber-security vendor, Check Point
March 2021 by Lotem Finkelstein, head of cyber intelligence at Check Point Software
Following the cyber-attack on the Norwegian Parliament that infiltrated its computer systems and extracted data, the Parliament said that the attack by unknown hackers was linked to a “vulnerability” in Microsoft’s Exchange software, and added that it was an “international problem.”
Lotem Finkelstein, head of cyber intelligence at Check Point Software said: “It looks likely that this new attack is related to the new zero-day vulnerabilities announced by Microsoft last week which affect Microsoft Exchange. The fact that hackers were able to breach Government systems shows just how far-reaching and serious these vulnerabilities are.
“Check Point’s recent 2020 security report showed that 83% out of all attack vectors were email-based, and 87% of organizations have experienced an attempt to exploit an existing vulnerability. The time-window between the discovery of a vulnerability and it being patched gives hackers the opportunity to launch these attacks. To protect themselves, organizations using Microsoft Exchange should ensure they have applied the patches to their systems, or use virtual patching technologies such as Intrusion Protection Systems to minimize the risks of attack.”