Several Danish municipalities have been hit by a wave of cyberattacks for four days straight, targeting local government websites just days before municipal elections. Authorities are urging greater cooperation and more funding to strengthen national cybersecurity defenses.
Cyberattacks Spread Across Danish Municipalities
A pro-Russian hacker group known as NoName057(16) continues to launch digital assaults against Danish websites for the fourth consecutive day. These attacks are mainly distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) campaigns that overwhelm servers until they crash or become slow to load.
Fifteen Danish targets have been hit this week, including the municipalities of Vejle, Tårnby, Ishøj, Gentofte, Rudersdal, and Helsingør. In some places, sites were temporarily inaccessible, while others reported only brief delays. Vejle’s municipal website, for example, went offline for about ten minutes on Monday. Ishøj’s page suffered multiple outages on Wednesday.
Aarhus Municipality managed to fend off the attack entirely. Several other local websites went down during the same period, though it has not been confirmed whether the same hacker group was responsible.
KOMBIT Calls for National Coordination
KOMBIT, the public IT agency that advises Danish municipalities, has stepped into the discussion. The organization said these ongoing assaults highlight the need for stronger collaboration between public institutions.
According to KOMBIT, authorities must share more information about attempted intrusions on both public websites and back-end systems. Only through transparency and shared data, officials argue, can Denmark create a coordinated defense. This echoes recent national efforts to manage cyber threats across vital infrastructure sectors such as water and energy.
Funding Gaps and Resource Challenges
KOMBIT’s director emphasized that cooperation alone will not be enough. Defending against persistent and well-funded cyber actors demands real financial investment. Hackers like NoName057(16) are backed by groups with deep pockets, meaning local institutions must keep pace with ongoing upgrades and monitoring.
Even though many Danish municipalities have done well in containing most attacks, security experts describe the situation as a digital arms race. Every improvement in defense prompts new offensive tactics from hackers. Because of that, cyber professionals are urging national leaders to channel more resources into cross-sector protection and training—especially after the recent shutdown of Denmark’s cyber sensor network, which had been used to detect and track online threats in real time.
No Immediate Risk to the Upcoming Municipal Election
The current wave of digital attacks will not affect the upcoming municipal election. Denmark still relies on traditional paper ballots, which remain isolated from any online systems. The electronic systems under attack, including websites and local online services, are unrelated to the vote-counting process.
Still, experts note that DDoS attacks can pose bigger problems if they target critical national systems. In previous incidents, for instance, Denmark’s online digital ID service MitID was briefly disrupted, causing delays for thousands of users across public and private sectors. Nationwide cybersecurity agencies continue to track such risks closely, particularly as new technologies and artificial intelligence increase both the capabilities and complexity of digital threats. The government is also assessing how AI might process or analyze sensitive medical records as part of wider data-protection discussions, as seen in recent coverage about AI use of patient records.
Looking Ahead
The recent attacks serve as a reminder of Denmark’s growing exposure to foreign cyber operations. Experts describe them as symbolic acts of disruption aimed at public confidence rather than technical destruction.
Even if the direct damage from these DDoS strikes remains limited, the frequency and coordination behind them raise broader questions about national resilience. Government agencies, municipal leaders, and IT experts largely agree on two points: Denmark needs to invest more in cyber readiness, and it must strengthen cooperation between every level of the public sector to protect its digital infrastructure.
Sources and References
DR: Cyberattacks on Danish municipalities continue for fourth day as key agency calls for more funding
The Danish Dream: Cyber Threats in Denmark Target Water Systems Daily
The Danish Dream: Denmark Shuts Down National Cyber Sensor Network
The Danish Dream: Denmark Probes AI Use of Patient Records
