Denmark has accused Russia of being behind two "destructive and disruptive" cyber-attacks, describing them as clear evidence of a hybrid war being waged against European countries that support Ukraine.
The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) said on Thursday that Moscow was responsible for a cyber-attack on a Danish water utility in 2024, as well as a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks targeting Danish websites ahead of municipal and regional elections in November.
According to Danish intelligence, the water utility attack was carried out by the pro-Russian hacker group Z-Pentest, while the election-related attacks were conducted by NoName057(16), a group with links to the Russian state. DDIS said both groups are used by Russia as instruments of its hybrid warfare strategy against the West.
Create insecurity and punish those that support Ukraine
"The aim is to create insecurity in the targeted countries and to punish those that support Ukraine," DDIS said, adding that Russia's cyber operations form part of a broader influence campaign designed to undermine Western backing for Kyiv.
Denmark's defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said the attacks were "completely unacceptable" and described them as clear proof that hybrid warfare is no longer a theoretical threat. In the water utility attack, a hacker took control of a waterworks in Køge and altered pump pressure, causing pipes to burst.
Poulsen said Denmark would summon the Russian ambassador over the incidents. While the damage caused was limited, Danish ministers warned the attacks exposed vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure and highlighted the need to strengthen Europe's cyber defences.