Norway's security service says civil-servant e-mail accounts have been targeted by hackers believed to be associated with Russian intelligence.

The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) said on February 3 that no classified information had been taken when nine personal civil-servant e-mail accounts were targeted in "spear-phishing" attacks.

PST spokesman Martin Bernsen said the agency was warned earlier this year by an unnamed foreign agency about "targeted attacks" against the security service, Norway's Labor Party, the military, and government agencies.

"The attacks had a signature that indicates those behind the hacking can be identified as APT29," Bernsen said. "They can be traced back to Russia."

He said APT29 was an another term for Cozy Bear, a hacker group that last year broke into U.S. Democratic Party computers and some U.S. government accounts.

"Spear-phishing" attacks involve emails that appear to be from known entities. If opened, hackers can launch malicious software onto the computer network of the recipient.

On January 31, the Czech government reported that dozens of e-mail accounts at its Foreign Ministry had been breached in a similar attack. Czech officials said they beleive the attack was "conducted by a foreign country," but did not name it.

Based on reporting by AP, CTK, and dpa