Security News > 2022 > January > Nobel Foundation site hit by DDoS attack on award day
The Nobel Foundation and the Norwegian Nobel Institute have disclosed a cyber-attack that unfolded during the award ceremony on December 10, 2021.
The Nobel prize ceremony is being live-streamed from Oslo and Stockholm, and as such, DDoS attacks can interrupt the video feed and possibly even blemish the prestige of the institution.
"The cyberattack subjected the websites to extremely high loads and was designed to try to prevent our ability to update and publish new information about the Nobel Prize and the achievements of the Nobel Laureates," details the official announcement.
"The Nobel Foundation and the Norwegian Nobel Institute therefore regard this as a serious attack on the Nobel Prize and have reported it to the police in order to help generate awareness of this type of cyberattack."
The Nobel Foundation has been repeatedly criticized for bias and favoritism, accused of maintaining an unfair stance against scientists from specific countries.
The Nobel prize-awarding committee has been criticized for excluding researchers who had key contributions in awarded studies or ignoring pioneering discoveries to award relatively minor findings.