Norwegian digital identification service BankID experienced widespread outages Wednesday afternoon. The disruption began shortly before 5 PM local time.
Company officials confirmed the service problems on their status page. They stated BankID was currently unavailable to users.
A spokesperson addressed the situation in a statement. "We have limited information beyond the problems starting just before 5 PM," the representative said.
The company is actively investigating the root cause of the failure. Technical teams are working to restore service as quickly as possible.
Users were advised they might still use physical code devices for authentication. These older security tokens represent a backup option during digital service disruptions.
The spokesperson acknowledged few people still use these physical devices today. She concluded by emphasizing their full-scale troubleshooting efforts.
BankID serves as Norway's primary digital identification system. Millions rely on it for banking, government services, and secure online logins.
Service disruptions like this create immediate practical problems across Norwegian society. People cannot access their banks, pay bills online, or use public digital services during outages.
What backup options exist when digital identification systems fail? This incident highlights the vulnerability of societies that depend heavily on single digital infrastructure.