The latest attack to hit the public sector of Europe's largest gas supplier and NATO's northernmost member.

"We identified a weakness in the platform of one of our suppliers. That weakness has now been shut," Erik Hope, head of the government agency in charge of providing services to ministries, told a news conference.

The attack was identified due to "unusual" traffic on the supplier's platform, Hope said, declining to provide specifics. It was uncovered on July 12 and was being investigated by police.

"It is too early to say who is back this and what is the extent of the impact (of the attack)," he said.

Norway is Europe's largest gas supplier after a drop in Russian gas flows and Western Europe's largest oil exporter, so it is fairly likely that it is Tsar Putin’s chums taking care of the competition.

Previous attacks on Norway's state sector has been hit by cyber attacks previously, including in June 2022, when a so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack took place, blamed on a "criminal pro-Russian group".

The PM's office, and the foreign, defence, and justice ministries were not affected because they use a different IT platform, said Hope.

NATO-member Norway shares a border with Russia in the Arctic and supports Ukraine with weapons, humanitarian aid and money.