The effects of hacking on Danish banks.
N2K logoJan 18, 2023

Moody’s Investors Service evaluated the effects of hacking on Danish banks in a tip released Friday.

The effects of hacking on Danish banks.

Moody’s released a tip Friday discussing the effects of the potentially coordinated DDoS attacks targeting Danish IT service center Bankdata that subsequently impacted banks using the service.

Bankdata targeted in DDoS attack.

The attacks took place on January 10, impacting Bankdata, and by extension, seven of the eight banks using the service center. Jyske Bank A/S, Sydbank A/S, and Ringkjobing Landbobank were some of the banks seeing disruptions, with Arbejdernes Landsbank A/S reportedly experiencing technical issues as well despite the use of a different provider. These hacks seem to follow suit with an attack targeting Denmark’s central bank, Nationalbanken, that occurred only a day earlier.

Effects and implications of successful DDoS against a bank.

This attack damages the reputation of the involved banks, disrupted customer services, and could create potential liabilities for customers that weren’t able to use their financial services; by all means this is credit negative for all banks involved, Moody’s notes. A need for strong cybersecurity practices is demonstrated in times of attacks like these, as added regulatory scrutiny and possible litigation are also consequences seen in the wake of successful attacks. 

Elevated risk exposure for financial institutions.

In their 2022 Cyber Heat Map, banks were found to have a High Risk of cyberattacks; a Very High systemic role given the importance of the industry to economic functions, but mitigate it with top of the line cyber practices. Strong IT protection, however, may not be enough to deter DDoS attacks, as they disrupt and target a specific server; in the case of the Danish banks, only website-based services were affected.