Norway blames pro-Russian hackers for dam cyberattack

Norway’s law enforcement agency is convinced that pro-Russian hackers were behind a cyber-sabotage attack on a Norwegian dam in the spring of 2025.

This was announced by the Head of the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), Beate Gangås, who spoke on the incident that occurred at a dam on Lake Risvatnet in southwestern Norway, Caliber.Az reports citing Norwegian media VG.

According to her, cybercriminals took control of the dam’s system in April 2025, keeping the sluice gates open for four consecutive hours, which released large volumes of water before staff detected the intrusion and could take action.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen a change in the activities of pro-Russian cyber actors. In April, a dam in western Norway became the target of such an operation [...] Our Russian neighbour has become more dangerous,” Gangås stressed.

She particularly pointed out that Russia was making use of a variety of methods against Norway and the West.

“This can involve sabotage, influence operations, polarisation, covert intelligence gathering — methods intended to weaken our security, but which cannot be characterised as acts of war [...] The goal is to influence Norwegian society, create a sense of unease and instability, and identify our strengths and weaknesses,” the police chief highlighted.

She also issued a warning to other European countries, urging that Moscow is likely to employ similar acts against them, too.

By Nazrin Sadigova