Train passengers face delays after digital signaling failure by Banedanmark in Jutland

On Thursday, train passengers faced significant delays due to a nearly five-hour malfunction in the digital signaling system operated by the Danish railway company, Banedanmark, which disrupted services across much of Jutland. Concurrently, a major IT failure at the network provider TDC made it difficult for individuals to reach emergency services at 1-1-2, raising concerns about the vulnerability of essential services to such technical glitches. Expert André Ken Jacobsen from the University of Southern Denmark, who studies hybrid warfare, expressed alarm at how such failures could severely impact society. He noted that a cyberattack could be much worse, potentially leading to cascading effects that overwhelm multiple entities, as demonstrated by TDC’s outage affecting healthcare and emergency operations.

The Center for Cybersecurity (CFCS) recognizes Denmark as an attractive target for malicious actors, raising the threat level for destructive cyberattacks from “low” to “medium” in June due to increased risks from Russian state-sponsored hackers. Despite any apparent connection between the two recent IT outages, they have caused a stir among auditors, who had previously reported inadequate IT preparedness among several government agencies.

Serdal Benli, chair of the audit committee, highlighted lingering issues with critical societal systems, emphasizing the importance of having robust IT contingency plans in place. The downtime not only affected normal operations but also hindered the ability to contact emergency services, which could have dire consequences for public safety. He warned that without proper safeguards, society could face significant disruption from future outages or cyberattacks.