Norway Raises Cyber Risk to High

The Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM) announced the move from moderate on October 27, 2026. High is the second-highest of five levels, and this is the first time the agency has made its national rating public.

NSM Director General Arne Christian Haugstøyl said the agency had observed the increase over the past six months. Several operations had caused serious consequences and could still harm national security, he said.

The announcement gives no incident totals and does not specify the period used for comparison. It does not attribute the overall rise to a particular state or criminal group.

Defense and Infrastructure at Risk

NSM identifies the defense sector, defense manufacturers, the space industry and operators of critical civilian infrastructure as particularly exposed. It reports attempted intrusions, successful breaches, ransomware and denial-of-service attacks.

The warning also covers suppliers serving organizations important to national security. Attackers who compromise a supplier may be able to use its access to reach customers’ systems. NSM says it has observed operations against subcontractors that could be attempts to gain access further up the supply chain.

Norway’s communications regulator, Nkom, stressed that a higher risk rating does not mean communications networks have been hit. It said it was following the situation with telecom providers, data center operators and other authorities, noting that many essential services depend on mobile and broadband networks.

AI Could Intensify Attacks

NSM also warns that artificial intelligence can help attackers find vulnerabilities faster and carry out operations more quickly and on a larger scale.

The agency says the use of advanced language models and autonomous AI agents in cyber operations has not yet been documented in Norway. The potential damage from those tools nevertheless forms part of its risk assessment.

NSM Urges Immediate Action

NSM calls on public and private organizations to strengthen access controls, use phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication and improve their ability to detect intrusions. Its recommendations also include security updates, network segmentation and closer oversight of suppliers.

Organizations should keep an inventory of their devices and software and test whether their safeguards work. NSM also recommends checking backups and preparing incident response plans.

For critical infrastructure operators, NSM recommends systems that can maintain a minimum level of essential services if normal digital infrastructure is disrupted.