BankID signing service outage disrupts Norwegian businesses

The BankID signing service in Norway has experienced a prolonged technical outage lasting two days, causing significant disruption to the business sector. The failure prevents users from electronically signing documents and completing essential financial transactions.

Real estate professionals have reported severe impacts, with some firms unable to process dozens of transactions involving substantial sums of money. Terje Tinholt, a partner at Tinholt Eiendomsmegling, described the situation as a crisis, noting that buyers and sellers are unable to send bids, receive funds, or transfer money. He highlighted that because all processes are electronic, the inability to sign documents has halted operations entirely.

BankID communication manager Hege Steinsland stated that this is the longest service disruption the company has ever experienced. While there was a brief period of stability during the night, new technical issues emerged, preventing a full resolution. The company has not disclosed the underlying cause of the failure.