Threat assessment: CFCS raises the threat level of cyberactivism against Denmark

Centre for Cybersecurity (CFCS) raises the threat level of cyber activism based on, among other things, the high activity from pro-Russian activist hacker groups against NATO countries, including Denmark, as well as on their increased capabilities.

In the context of continued increased tensions between Russia and the West, pro-Russian cyber activists carry out numerous attacks against varying targets that they select from a broad selection of NATO members. It is likely that the pro-Russian groups will stay motivated to go after targets in Denmark and the West, as long as the current crisis between Russia and the West lasts.

In the last year, pro-Russian cyber activists have carried out cyber attack campaigns where they group their targets within specific themes. Danish targets have for example been part of a campaign where the theme was European ministries of defense, and in a campaign where the theme was the Danish financial sector.

When the threat level of cyber activism is raised to HIGH, it means that it is likely that Danish businesses and government organisations will be targets of cyber activist attacks within two years.

Pro-Russian hackers are using distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) in particular. This type of attack is disruptive and attracts attention, but leave no permanent of destructive consequences to the victims' systems.