Denmark to build offensive cyberwarfare unit

Denmark is planning to invest $75m to set up a cyberwarfare unit by 2017 in the wake of escalating hacking attacks against Danish defense industry, Business and Growth Ministry, and Maritime Authority.

Being originally put forward by the country’s defense ministry, the latest move will involve assigning tasks to the Defense Intelligence Service (FE), offering an espionage agency the power to conduct cyberattacks for the first time.

According to The Sputnik, various enterprises have been a victim of cyberattacks too with China being the primary suspect in most of the attacks.

Defense Minister Nicolai Wammen said: "I am convinced that the constitutional requirement to include parliament in the given situation can be reconciled with any concerns in relation to the operation’s implementation and security."

Cyberattacks are also capable paralyzing a foe’s air defense, power and water supply systems, in addition to essential websites.

Earlier, Singapore also revealed plans to modernize its Cyber-Watch Centre to incorporate wider detection capabilities and bolster protection for government systems in the wake of a wave of cyber attacks.

Set for completion this month, the modernized centre will be able to track illegal modifications to websites and network traffic further enabling detection of malicious files and potential data leaks.