Danish Banks Hit By DDoS Cyber-Attack: Is Your Financial Information Safe There?
Reading Time: 3 minutesWith DDoS attacks on the rise, is your banking data safe with targets like banks?
The Central Bank of Denmark and seven private banks were the targets of DDoS attacks on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. It included Jyske Bank, Sydbank, and Arbejdernes Landsbank, three of Denmark’s largest banks.
The Bankdata—a company that provides financial technology—service center was targeted by hackers, which also disrupted the operations of the banks using the IT company’s own servers.
According to reports, the pro-Russian hacktivist group performed the DDoS attack, as they are now conducting a series of DDoS attacks in Ukraine and NATO member countries.
What Is a DDoS Cyber-Attack?
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks cause a temporary interruption in the operations of an organization’s server, website, or other network resources. Cybercriminals use numerous internet-connected devices to overload the target’s resources with thousands of HTTP requests and traffic in one go.
As a result, the system cannot handle the volume of traffic, making the attacked resource inaccessible to legitimate users. The severity of the DDoS attack determines how long the service will be unavailable, but according to Kaspersky Lab, one in five DDoS attacks last for days or even weeks.
DDoS attacks are common and simple for hackers to carry out because they do not involve the installation of malicious code on the victim’s servers. More than 30 different types of DDoS attacks exist, and new ones are constantly being introduced. Due to all these factors, DDoS attacks are now riskier and more difficult to block.
How Did the Attack Affect Danish Citizens?
The DDoS attack’s main objective was to disrupt the day-to-day operations of the banks in Denmark. Users were unable to access the websites of Denmark’s Nationalbank and seven other banks, making the attack partially successful. However, all users could access other financial systems, including mobile banking, without any issues.
Except for the website, the banks’ regular business activities were not affected, allowing the public to use all of their other financial services. On the negative side, the banking websites were down for more than three hours, which may have led to troubles and financial losses for several citizens.
Because it targeted the country’s major banks, the incident affected a significant portion of Danish citizens. Sydbank alone has around 500,000 private and business customers, while Denmark’s Nationalbank has many more.
Customers could have been outraged if the hackers had taken down all the banks’ financial systems.
Are People Protected Against These Attacks in the Future?
According to Denmark’s Centre for Cyber Security (CFCS), Denmark is at a medium risk of DDoS cyber-attacks. However, the threat level is continuously rising due to the war in Ukraine, placing many Danish private companies and public institutions in danger.
Some screenshots from a Telegram group chat making the rounds on Twitter show messages from the pro-Russian hacktivist group planning the DDoS attacks.
The banking sector has planned an increase in its cybersecurity budget of up to 30% to address these threats. As a result, Denmark will continue to enhance its security measures using network security controls and multi-layered protection.
Banks might even invest in cloud-based service providers focusing on DDoS attack defense. These service providers perform ongoing security assessments, monitor traffic trends, and create a defense strategy based on them.
If You Live in Denmark, Should You Use Online Banking?
Danish citizens do not have to abandon online banking. We should not overlook the fact that Denmark continues to be one of the most cyber-secure countries in the world. According to a recent study, only 0.1% of Danish users were victims of financial malware attacks in 2022.
DDoS attacks cannot unlock the bank’s system to steal your personal information, but hackers can use several other methods to steal data. DDoS by itself cannot steal data, but hackers could use it as a diversion to download additional malware onto the system for data theft.
DDoS attacks are becoming more common worldwide. However, the banks in Denmark were able to rapidly restore their websites after the DDoS attack. More security advancements are expected in Denmark, making it safe to use banking services in the country.
So, Is Your Information Safe With Online Banks?
As a whole, Danish banks are secure and reliable. Despite being able to disrupt the websites of multiple banks, the pro-Russian hacktivist group could not access the systems and steal any private data. Usually, such incidents are uncommon in the country, but the war in Ukraine has increased the threat of DDoS attacks.
In addition to the increased security steps expected from the banks, you should also take some security precautions to protect your online bank accounts.
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