The United States and the Kingdom of Denmark are two very seemingly different nations. The United States has a much larger population, larger land mass, and carry two completely different geopolitical roles. One area in which they do have something in common is that, depending on the source and metrics used, the two are often ranked near the top of cybersecurity strength. For example, the Anti-Fraud protection software company, SEON, ranks Denmark as being the fourth most secure nation, while the United States comes in at sixteenth based on combined results from other indexes (Fong). In the Cybersecurity Exposure Index released in 2020, Denmark was ranked second and the United States was seventh overall (Frisby). Then there is the Global Cybersecurity Index with takes into consideration five categories to determine their list. The five categories are legal, technical, organization, capacity, and cooperation measurements. Each category is scored out of 20 then combined out of a total 100 points. In this ranking, the United States took the top spot (ITU Publications). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Denmark the most common cyber threat came in the form of phishing attacks. Ransomware was another common problem they faced, but this risk has fallen off dramatically in the last few years (Chebac). Financial fraud and malware has been a smaller, yet constant threat. Rising issues come in the form of social engineering and personal data breaches (Chebac). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Denmark has not always been a leading player in cybersecurity, and it took several major attacks to spark this change. In 2017, the largest shipping company on the peninsular nation was hit by a ransomware attack that halted operation for two weeks (Chebac). Another possible ransomware attack shut down a hearing aid manufacturer for months. A software error lead to a fifth of the nation had personal data leaked from the Danish tax portal (Chebac). Hackers found backdoor access to the National Bank of Denmark. A security breach in a critical system paralyzed the Danish railway temporarily (Chebac). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the overhauls Denmark made to better prevent these disasters include the widespread implementation of multifactor authentication for state and financial services, increased funding for cybersecurity, improving infrastructures, and a new policy focusing on education, coordination, and resilience (Chebac). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2022, the Danish cybersecurity authority ranked the threats of cybercrime and espionage as very high, destructive and activist based attacks as low, and the threat of cyberterrorism being none (Chebac). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the year 2022, phishing was the most reported crime in the United States with nearly 300 thousand reported cases (Petrosyan). Additionally, there was almost 60 thousand reports of personal data breaches to the U.S. Internet Crime Complaint Center (Petrosyan). Last year the Justice Department spearheaded a campaign to shut down a widespread ransomware group reclaiming over 300 decryption keys saving the victims millions (Adya). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to its larger geopolitical role the United States can have a target on its back more so than Denmark. The United States is at higher risk for cyberterrorism, destructive, and activist based attacks that Denmark considered low risk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some recent cyberattacks to impact the United States and U.S. based companies have impacted household names such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Microsoft (Chin). Another attack that made headlines was the Equifax breach, which was conducted by Chinese backed hackers for espionage purposes (Fruhlinger). In 2021, a ransomware attack shut down the Colonial Pipeline for several days. This pipeline is essential for moving oil from the Gulf of Mexico to states on the east coast. It was impactful enough to be declared a state of emergency (Kerner). This event is what sparked the Biden Administration and the Department of Justice to launch its campaign against ransomware. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Denmark and the United States are two nations leading the charge against the flood of cybersecurity threats. They both have dealt with common threats of phishing, ransomware, and malware. Both have been rocked by several major attacks in recent years, and responded by implementing new policies, and will strive to maintain their places at the top of cybersecurity indexes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Works Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adya, Anant. \u201cU.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy And the Business Landscape.\u201d Spiceworks<\/em>, 2 Jan. 2024, www.spiceworks.com\/it-security\/cyber-risk-management\/guest-article\/u-s-national-cybersecurity-strategy. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chebac, Andreea. \u201cDenmark\u2019s Journey to Becoming the Most Cyber-Secure Country.\u201d Heimdal Security Blog<\/em>, 1 Nov. 2022, heimdalsecurity.com\/blog\/denmarks-cybersecurity-journey-to-becoming-the-most-cyber-secure-country. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chin, Kyle. Biggest Data Breaches in US History (Updated 2024) | UpGuard<\/em>. www.upguard.com\/blog\/biggest-data-breaches-us. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fong, Jimmy. \u201cGlobal Cybercrime Report: Countries Most at Risk in 2023 | SEON.\u201d SEON<\/em>, 4 May 2023, seon.io\/resources\/global-cybercrime-report\/#h3-top-10-lowest. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frisby, Joshua. \u201cCybersecurity Exposure Index (CEI) 2020.\u201d PasswordManagers.co<\/em>, 2 June 2020, passwordmanagers.co\/cybersecurity-exposure-index\/#global. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fruhlinger, Josh. \u201cEquifax Data Breach FAQ: What Happened, Who Was Affected, What Was the Impact?\u201d CSO Online<\/em>, 28 June 2023, www.csoonline.com\/article\/567833\/equifax-data-breach-faq-what-happened-who-was-affected-what-was-the-impact.html. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ITU Publications<\/em>. www.itu.int\/epublications\/publication\/D-STR-GCI.01-2021-HTM-E.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kerner, Sean Michael. \u201cColonial Pipeline Hack Explained: Everything You Need to Know.\u201d Tech Target<\/em>, 26 Apr. 2022, www.techtarget.com\/whatis\/feature\/Colonial-Pipeline-hack-explained-Everything-you-need-to-know. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Petrosyan, Ani. \u201cU.S. Most Frequently Reported Cyber Crime by Number of Victims 2022.\u201d Statista<\/em>, 29 Aug. 2023, www.statista.com\/statistics\/184083\/commonly-reported-types-of-cyber-crime-us\/#:~:text=Phishing%20attacks%20can%20take%20many,were%20targeted%20by%20smishing%20scams. Accessed 2 Feb. 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The United States and the Kingdom of Denmark are two very seemingly different nations. The United States has a much larger population, larger land mass, and carry two completely different geopolitical roles. One area in which they do have something in common is that, depending on the source and metrics used, the two are often… <\/p>\n