What has happened?
The Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM) has for the first time publicly announced the national cyber risk level and has set the level to HIGH. This is the second highest level on a five-step scale ranging from Very low to Extremely high, where Moderate constitutes the normal state.
The reason the risk level has been raised is a demanding security policy situation and the fact that NSM over the past year has registered a large increase in successful cyberattacks against Norwegian organizations. In addition, threat actors now exploit artificial intelligence (AI) to discover and exploit technical vulnerabilities in IT systems and software much faster than before.
What does this mean for faculty and staff at UiO?
The raised risk level means that the general threat landscape in society requires increased vigilance. At UiO we continue our work as normal, but we must be extra vigilant and follow IT security routines carefully. Be especially alert to suspicious emails and messages: Check the sender’s email address closely, and be skeptical of unexpected links or attachments. Be aware that AI-generated phishing may use very good and natural Norwegian or English language.
We are entering a period with an increased pace of security updates. It is therefore possible that you will more often be notified that your computer must be restarted and that the deadline for such restarts will be shorter. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but ask for your understanding that the computers must be kept secure.
Report immediately if you experience or suspect that something has happened that affects your or UiO’s IT security. The contact point for reporting is cert@uio.no.
What is UiO doing to improve IT security?
The security around UiO’s IT systems is high, and we have a strong and highly competent IT security organization. The IT security organization works both to ensure that our systems are secure, and also to actually fend off attacks. There are many attempted cyberattacks against UiO every day, and what we have noticed most recently were the DDoS attacks in September.
UiO is now also following NSM’s recommended package of measures to strengthen the digital basic security, a list of relevant measures that NSM believes must be in place at all Norwegian organizations. Work is continuously being done to roll out security updates quickly, and the IT security group has implemented extended monitoring and logging in our networks to detect abnormal activity. Intensive work is also being done to collect information about the technology underlying our most important services, so that potential vulnerabilities can be identified more quickly.
In addition, completion of endpoint security on Mac machines has been brought forward, and checks and clean-up in our systems are also being carried out.