CERT-IS warns Iceland faces the same cross-border cyber threats

Foreign actors have established footholds in devices in Iceland, Morgunblaðið reports, citing Magni Reynir Sigurðsson, director of CERT-IS, the Icelandic government’s cyber security team.

Norway’s intelligence service recently published findings from a new cyber-monitoring tool known as “adapted collection”, which monitors electronic communications across borders. Norwegian newspaper VG reported that the tool now detects one-fifth of all cases involving digital threats in Norway, just one year after it was introduced.

The method has faced criticism over privacy concerns. The cybercrimes in question involve foreign states using a country’s cyber infrastructure to launch attacks on infrastructure in other countries under a false identity. VG cited an attack against Ukrainian authorities that was carried out from Norway.

“We have seen that no country is really immune to attacks like these,” Sigurðsson told Morgunblaðið. “It is nothing new for attackers to deliberately use infrastructure in other countries to conceal their identity. It is very common for them to try to hide the origin of traffic and other things. Iceland is no exception, with its strong infrastructure.”

He said foreign actors had used ordinary devices, including tablets, set-top boxes and routers, for cyberattacks in Iceland. The devices ran on Android and had been sold by low-cost manufacturers through websites such as AliExpress and Temu. However, he said it could not be confirmed whether foreign states had carried out these activities in Iceland.

Iceland does not have an intelligence service, Sigurðsson said, but CERT-IS is continually working to improve its ability to detect threats of this kind. Iceland also cooperates closely with the Nordic and Baltic countries on cyber security and is participating in the development of a new joint cyber security centre for the countries.