Nobel websites attacked during Peace Prize ceremony live stream

There was a foiled cyber attack on both the Swedish Nobel Foundation’s website and the Norwegian Nobel Institute’s website during a live stream of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo.

Cyber attack on two countries Nobel organizations

Both the Swedish and Norwegian arms of the Nobel Foundation were subjected to a cyber attack during the awarding of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize last December. The attack on the Norwegian Nobel Institute and the Swedish Nobel Foundation’s website, a so-called “disturbed denial of service”, was made to prevent the ability of each website to be updated with new information about the 2021 winners.

The attack was seen as an attack on the freedom of expression by both Nobel organizations. In a press release, the Nobel Foundation said that they “see this as a serious attack on the Nobel Prize, and report the matter to the police to contribute to increased awareness of such attacks, which are unfortunately too common in society, and which in the long run can pose a threat to freedom of expression..”. Vidar Helgesen, Director of the Nobel Foundation, also spoke of the threat against freedom of expression in an interview with Sveriges Radio.

Norwegian attack reported to police, no indication who it was

The attack was reported to authorities in both countries. The Nobel Foundation submitted its report to the police, in Oslo, on January 21. Bjørn Vangen, IT manager at the Nobel Institute, told NTB that this was an unprecedented attack. Vangen was happy that the attack was prevented as “it shows that the measures we have work. The site did not go down, and we are happy with that..”

There was no clear indication of who was behind the attack yet both winners of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, have railed against powerful figures in their home countries.

Source : © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayTravel

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