Pro-Russian group takes on cyber attacks – writes about Nord Stream

A large number of central authorities have been hit by denial-of-service attacks during the week. The attacks are so-called DDOS attacks that are harmless to the authorities' activities, but which prevent visits to their websites.

On Telegram, a pro-Russian group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The group, which has over 40,000 followers, accuses Sweden of having "intensified the confrontation with Russia" by expelling five Russian diplomats. According to the Foreign Ministry, the diplomats are intelligence officers and were expelled after Uppdrag granskning's documentary series "The Shadow War".

Nord Stream investigation

On Telegram, the group also points to the Swedish investigation into sabotage against Nord Stream as a cause.

The Swedish Security Service does not want to comment on the matter but states in a comment:

"The Swedish Security Service is aware that a number of denial-of-service attacks have been carried out against Swedish institutions. Further information about our intelligence situation or how the Swedish Security Service works with these types of issues is not something we are able to go into further."

The Swedish Tax Agency describes the attack as unusually advanced and persistent and in a press release states that the attackers used "different methods". The attack lasted for six hours and reportedly made the site slow and difficult to reach.

"We played cat and mouse. We took action and they adjusted their attacks. It was new to us that they were so persistent, says Peder Sjölander at the Swedish Tax Agency to TT.

The Riksdag was down

Kammarkollegiet states in a press release that two of their subsites were affected after the supplier Sitevision Control was subjected to a DDoS attack.

The Swedish Armed Forces have also been targeted, but the attack did not lead to any impact, they say:

"The Armed Forces, like other authorities and organizations, are continuously subjected to trials and attacks, our protection is strong and there has been no major impact on us.", writes the Armed Forces' communications department.

The Riksdag website was also targeted earlier this week and could not be reached. The Riksdag's press spokesperson confirmed the attack but did not want to comment further.