Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen held a press conference yesterday, Tuesday, at the Ministry of Defense building, where he repeatedly stressed that there is no military threat from Russia, but estimates indicate that Russia is likely to launch cyberattacks against a wide range of targets that would disrupt infrastructure in Denmark such as water, electricity, communications and internet systems, or even heating systems in winter as happened in Ukraine.
In addition, the Minister of Defense announced during the press conference that the threat level for destructive cyberattacks against Danish companies, organizations and authorities has been raised from low to medium, and within the next 14 days, citizens will receive information on how to deal with a situation in which critical infrastructure is affected, according to local media.
The threat level can change with little or no notice. According to the Ministry of Defense, Russia's intention is to influence the population and decision-makers and weaken support for Ukraine, as reported by TV2.
Defense Minister: Citizens will be notified within 14 days
Within the next 14 days, there will be information on what citizens should do if vital infrastructure in Denmark is affected: “The whole question of how to best advise citizens in the event of a power outage or a temporary interruption of the water supply, we will do that now as well. It is necessary. We must have greater awareness so that if something happens, we know what to do,” according to Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, as reported by TV2.
The Minister of Defense also explained that in Denmark we have reached the point where the issue of how authorities provide advice to citizens must be handled better than before, and the Minister of Defense asked the National Emergency Management Agency, with the participation of a number of other bodies, to look into the communications directed to citizens regarding so-called civil emergencies.
Thomas Flarup, head of the Danish Cyber Security Centre, explained that cyberattacks can also be used to influence citizens: “As a citizen, it is also important to know that cyberattacks can be used to influence us as citizens and create a state of insecurity,” he told TV2.
Danish companies are facing a dangerous situation where everyone could be affected by cyberattacks, according to Andreas Holback Espersen, head of digitalization policy at Industry Denmark: “Destructive cyberattacks are much worse, because the enemy’s goal here is to destroy as much as possible, for example, by deleting or overwriting data, or in extreme cases shutting down critical infrastructure,” such as disabling access to MitID, for example, which is practically the only tool through which Danes can digitally access their banking, health, education and other public and private sector accounts.
Here is an overview of the key points from Tuesday evening's press conference:
The threat level for destructive cyberattacks against businesses, organizations, and authorities has been raised from low to medium.
Within the next 14 days, citizens will receive information on how to deal with a situation in which critical infrastructure is affected.
Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen has repeatedly asserted that there is no military threat from Russia towards Denmark.
Estimates suggest that Russia is likely to launch cyberattacks against a wide range of targets in socially important sectors.
-The threat level can change with or without simple notification
According to the Ministry of Defense, Russia's intention is to influence the population and decision-makers and weaken support for Ukraine.
