A high-ranking general in the Norwegian Army and head of the Norwegian Intelligence Service E-tjenesten (Etterretningstjenesten) has made official statements accusing the Chinese government of launching cyber-attacks against his country.

The statements were made to Norwegian TV station TV2 by General Lt. Morten Haga Lunde, who was detailing his agency's most recent intelligence report.

Gen. Lunde says that state-sponsored hacking groups have targeted many Norwegian companies during the past year. He says that these companies are suppliers and collaborators of the Norwegian army and that hackers have stolen information considered to be state military secrets.

China and Russia are launching cyber-attacks against Norway

E-tjenesten's leader says that his agency traced many of these attacks back to China. State officials have declined to name the companies targeted in these attacks, and the information hackers stole.

A day earlier, the same Gen. Lunde also said that cyber-attacks originating from Russia have also grown during the past year as well.

In an interview with SC Magazine, Snorre Fagerland, senior principal security researcher at Blue Coat's Oslo-based branch says that despite its relative small size, Norway is the target of many cyber-attacks.

Some of the reasons are that Norway is first and foremost part of NATO, has an active weapons industry, and is also a key player on the oil market. With many scientists expecting the polar ice cap to melt, Norway is bound to experience a resource boom in the following years as more seabed mineral resources would become exploitable.

First time a NATO country accuses China of cyber-espionage

With Gen. Lunde making these public statements, this is the first time a NATO country is accusing China of hacking and cyber-espionage.

In the past, many cyber-security firms have seen cyber-attacks originating from China, but many have avoided saying that the actual Chinese government was behind the attacks.

The only security firms that have made public allegations against China are ThreatConnect and Defense Group, who in September 2015 have released a report that tied the activities of the Naikon APT to a man named Ge Xing, officer in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s, Chengdu Military Region Second Technical Reconnaissance Bureau (Military Unit 78020).