Hackers are getting more numerous and better — how to make yourself a harder target

The threat is no longer something that happens to the unlucky. In November 2025 the Danish Agency for Societal Security rated the cybercrime threat against Denmark VERY HIGH — the top of the scale, and unchanged from the year before.

The numbers behind it are concrete:

• 274,000 Danes were hit by digital fraud in 2024, up from 189,000 the year before — a 45 percent rise in twelve months.
• Four in ten victims were defrauded at least twice. Once you are on a list, you get tried again.
• Average losses were DKK 3,300 for online shopping fraud, DKK 5,900 for payment card misuse and DKK 13,500 for contact fraud — where some lose several hundred thousand.
• Globally, 7,551 organisations were hit by ransomware between April 2025 and March 2026, an increase of nearly 25 percent. March 2026 was the worst single month on record.

And it is not getting easier. The World Economic Forum's 2026 cybersecurity report finds that 47 percent of organisations have already faced deepfake attacks, and 77 percent report rising phishing and fraud. The clumsy email full of typos is history — today the scammer speaks fluent Danish in your manager's voice.

What you can do

Shrink your digital footprint. Every account you create is somewhere your data can leak from. Delete accounts you don't use, close old profiles, and think about what you leave publicly visible — birthday, employer, family ties and holiday plans are exactly the planks a scammer builds a story from.

Keep what matters on a drive that isn't plugged in. Ransomware encrypts everything it can reach — including the external drive you forgot to unplug and the cloud folder that syncs automatically. Private documents, photos and accounts belong on a disk you connect only when you use it. The classic rule still holds: three copies, two different media, one of them off-site.

Use passkeys or a password manager. Reused passwords are the single mistake that costs most people the most. A manager gives every service its own long password without you having to remember any of them. Passkeys are better still — there is no password to steal.

Turn on two-factor — preferably not by SMS. An app or a physical key is markedly safer than an SMS code, which can be intercepted by taking over your phone number.

Update everything, the router included. Most break-ins go through holes that have been known and patched for months. Automatic updates on phone, computer and browser cost nothing and close most of it.

Call back yourself. No bank, authority or telecoms company will ask you to move money, read out a code or install remote control software. If an urgent call comes in, hang up and dial the number on the back of your card. The urgency is the weapon — the feeling of having no time to think.

Agree on a family code word. Voice cloning has made "hi mum" scams hard to see through. A word only you know settles it in two seconds.

Watch the account. Switch on a notification for every transaction. The sooner you spot misuse, the better your chances of getting the money back.

The most important advice

You don't need to be impenetrable — you need to be more expensive to break into than the next person. Most attacks are automated and go for whatever is loose. Unique passwords, two-factor, updates and a backup that can't be reached from the machine will carry you past the great majority.

Sources

• Danish Ministry for Societal Security and Preparedness — the threat assessment "Cybertruslen mod Danmark 2025" and the threat levels
• The Danish Crime Prevention Council — the number of Danes hit by digital fraud and the average losses
• Black Kite — the global ransomware tally for April 2025 to March 2026
• World Economic Forum Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026 — the figures on deepfake attacks and the rise in phishing