Finland parliament website targeted in cyber attack

Finland’s parliament said Tuesday its website came under cyber-attack, as the Nordic country applies for NATO membership following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“A denial-of-service attack is taking place against the parliament’s external website,” parliament said in a statement.

The attack began around 2:30 p.m. (1130 GMT), slowing down or completely denying access to the site.

Several hours later there was still no official confirmation of who was behind the incident.

“The parliament is taking steps to limit the attack,” the statement said.

Finnish news agency STT was targeted in a cyber attack at the end of July, restricting its news and image distribution for several days.

In April, Finnish defense ministry and government websites were also subjected to similar cyber attacks but their problems were quickly resolved.

The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) warned in May that “Russia has the will” to influence Finland’s NATO application process and that “various attempts to do so are to be expected.”

SUPO director Antti Pelttari estimated the country would face “an increasing number” of cyber-attacks.

Denial of service attacks “try to give the impression that society is paralyzed, but they are not capable of causing actual destruction,” Pelttari said in April.