Sweden’s parliament has been hit by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack that partially downed its website on Tuesday and caused it to be slow on Wednesday. The attack disrupted access to its web page, but it was not clear who was behind the attack.
Authorities have warned of increased cyberattacks against Swedish interests in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Sweden has applied for NATO membership. DDoS attacks are unsophisticated attacks that direct high volumes of internet traffic towards targeted servers in a bid to knock them offline.
The attack on Sweden’s parliament is the latest in a series of cyberattacks against critical infrastructure, including ransomware attacks, that have taken place worldwide in recent years. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other Nordic leaders in Finland’s capital on Wednesday, but it was unclear if the attack would have any impact on the meeting.
The work to restore services on the Parliament web page was ongoing, and a spokesperson said that it was not possible to say when it would be fully functional again.
