Lørenskog municipality data breach exposes water supply documents

Hackers accessed Lørenskog municipality’s systems and stole confidential documents about the water and sewage network serving the Lower Romerike area, which supplies drinking water to about 180,000 residents. The material, including maps, risk assessments and emergency plans, was first published on the dark web last week, with more than 1.3 million files released. Subsequent leaks totalled about 1.8 terabytes and also contained child‑welfare case files, patient records, school documents and other critical‑infrastructure information.

In response, the municipal council convened an extraordinary, closed‑door meeting on short notice. Mayor Amine Mabel Andresen warned that disclosing details of security measures could aid further attacks and described the situation as “a serious crisis.” The municipality’s crisis team is meeting several times daily and has deployed extra resources to handle inquiries. NRVA chief Torgunn Sætre confirmed that the water‑supply operations and water quality are unaffected because the utility’s operational systems are separate from the municipal IT environment.

The breach, which occurred two months earlier, highlights vulnerabilities in local government data handling and has prompted calls for stronger protection of both personal and critical‑infrastructure information.