The University of Copenhagen said the suspected new cyberattack reported on Monday was a false alarm. What had looked like a fresh hacker attack was in fact activity in the system, the university wrote on its website, according to Ekstra Bladet, Berlingske and DR.
The university shut down several administrative systems on Monday after assessing that it had been hit by another hacker attack. Late on Monday evening it established that there was no new attack. A preventive and controlled shutdown is still necessary, the university said.
"This shutdown continues to cause disruptions to some of KU's systems," it wrote.
The shutdown is linked to the original hacker attack, in which outsiders gained access to information on around 525,000 people. The data included full name, CPR number, work phone number, private phone number and private email address. The university reported the first attack on Friday.
PIN codes for some of the affected employees' and students' ID cards were also compromised in that attack. According to the university, that involved around 20,000 people, who have since been issued new PIN codes. KU closed physical access to selected critical locations on a security assessment, and the locations have reopened now that all 20,000 have received new PIN codes.
Several Danish universities have been hit by cyberattacks within a few weeks. Besides the University of Copenhagen, they include DTU and Aarhus University. Christina Egelund, the minister for research, education and digitalisation, previously told Ritzau that the managements of the eight Danish universities were summoned to a meeting on Monday to discuss the security situation.