News brief
Norway says China was behind 2018 cyberattack By Mette Larsen
T
he Norwegian Police Intelligence Service (PST) revealed recently that it was the cyber espionage group APT 31 that carried out a comprehensive cyberattack on the state administration in Norway three years ago.
Hanne Blomberg, head of the department from PTS, said, “In the specific case, we have intelligence information, which points in a clear direction that it is APT 31, which was behind the operation against the state administration’s offices.” “APT 31 is an actor that we associate with the Chinese intelligence service,” she added. The group has carried out cyberattacks on Norway, Finland, the United States, and elsewhere. The 2018 attack was aimed at regional administrations in Norway. The first areas to be hit were Aust and West-Agder, but the attack eventu-
ally spread to Oslo, affecting computer systems across the country. PTS took the attack seriously and investigated it as espionage to steal state secrets. A report from the Defense Research Institute (FFI) has determined that 1.2 gigabytes of data was collected during the attack. Usernames and passwords from employees in the region, among other things, were stolen. PTS is, however, ending their investigation and dropping the case. There is not enough accurate information that could lead to an aftermath in court, they say.
Norwegian People’s Aid conducts explosives training in Vietnam By Mette Larsen
N
orwegian People’s Aid Vietnam is for the first time conducting an intensive course on International Mine Action Standards Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Level 3 in the central Quang Tri Province of Vietnam, the Norwegian Embassy in Hanoi shared in a recent update. The course is instructed by Mr. Paul Eldred, NPA Vietnam Technical Field Manager (EOD) at Project RENEW in Quang Tri Province, who has over 25 years of experience in the EOD, search, and mine-warfare fields. The training course lasts over three weeks and aims to give NPA’s most senior technical staff the skills and knowledge they need to achieve the IMAS (International Mine Action 18 ScandAsia • July-August 2021
Standards) EOD Level 3 competency. The eight trainees are eight senior national staff members from NPA’s projects in Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien Hue. They are team leaders, supervisors, and operations managers who have been working for NPA for years. Successful graduates will become some of the highest-trained EOD technicians in NPA Vietnam. One of the key objectives that NPA has committed to since its first program in Vietnam in 2007 is to ensure that Vietnam has qualified personnel capable of dealing with residual explosive ordnance in the long term. This training course is an affirmation of such commitment.
Hypothetical scenario: One 75mm High Explosive mechanical time fuze projectile. Photo NPA via Facebook
