Denmark Blames Russia for Calamitous Water Utility Breach, Election-Targeted DDoS

Denmark blamed Russia for a disastrous cyberattack against its water utility last year, as well as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) intrusions against its election infrastructure.

Security Affairs reports that Denmark is blaming Russia for a disastrous cyberattack against its water utility last year, as well as distributed denial-of-service intrusions against its election infrastructure.

Denmark believes the attacks are part of Russia's hybrid war strategy aimed at the critical infrastructure of Western nations supporting Ukraine.

After pro-Russia hacktivist operation Z-Pentest's compromise of a water utility's pump pressure last December, fellow pro-Russia hacktivist group NoName057(16) bombarded Danish websites with overload attacks ahead of the country's municipal and regional council polls this year, according to Denmark's Defence Intelligence Service, or FE.

While officials emphasized limited impact from Russian cyber and drone incidents, such intrusions have exposed significant lapses in its national resilience.

"This is very clear evidence that we are now where the hybrid war we have been talking about is unfortunately taking place. It once again puts the spotlight on the situation we find ourselves in in Europe. It is completely unacceptable that hybrid attacks are carried out in Denmark by the Russian side," said Danish Deputy Prime Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.

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Sharon Florentine Editorial Director

Sharon Florentine is the editorial director for CyberRisk Alliance’s Channel Brands and acting editorial director for SC UK. She is responsible for setting strategy and editorial direction and developing content for news, features, analysis and other written content, moderates live webcasts, and oversees research projects. Sharon has previously held key editorial, content and leadership positions at DevOps.com, Security Boulevard, CIO.com, Ziff Davis Enterprise, and CRN, among others.