Intelligence services: Cyber threat against the municipal and regional elections is high

A new joint threat assessment from the Danish Agency for Public Safety (SAMSIK), the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET), and the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) concludes that the cyber threat against the municipal and regional elections on 18 November is high.

According to the assessment, it is likely that pro-Russian hacker groups will attempt to carry out DDoS attacks against websites in connection with the election, including sites that present election results or are operated by municipalities and public authorities. The attacks may make websites temporarily inaccessible, but they will not affect votes or the election outcome.

It is also considered possible that criminal hackers will attempt ransomware attacks against IT systems connected to the election, which could delay the counting of votes. Since votes are cast on paper, they can still be counted manually.

The threat from attempts at influence operations and sabotage by foreign states – including Russia – is assessed as low, and no attempts to interfere with the actual voting process are expected.

:NB: