A cyberattack at UiT, Norway’s Arctic University in Tromsø, has prompted the institution to activate emergency measures and bring in outside specialists to help contain the incident.
In an official statement, the university said the attack was ongoing at the time of its announcement. It had mobilised its own resources and was receiving assistance from external experts to limit and stop the attack.
Uncertainty over the cyberattack at UiT
Director of Administration Jørgen Fossland said UiT had deployed the necessary resources, but could not predict how the situation would develop.
“It remains uncertain how the attack will develop over the coming hours and days.”
The university has not specified which systems were targeted, whether any personal information was compromised or who might be responsible. It has asked students and staff to remain vigilant and follow its service updates for information about possible disruption.
Norwegian newspaper VG reported on Friday that some of UiT’s systems and services could be unstable over the weekend. The university said it would maintain a heightened state of readiness over the coming days.
Other Nordic universities have faced cyber incidents
UiT had previously reported denial-of-service attacks affecting parts of its digital infrastructure in September. The university has not linked the latest incident to those earlier attacks or specified whether the same methods were used.
In Denmark, the University of Copenhagen confirmed on 23 October that hackers had accessed a test environment containing personal data relating to approximately 525,000 people. It said that attack had been contained and there was no evidence that systems supporting day-to-day operations had been accessed.
