When the Water Stops and the Money Vanishes: Cyber Threats to National Lifelines

Two major incidents in Europe—the hacking of a Norwegian dam and a phishing breach at the UK’s tax office—underscore the escalating vulnerability of critical infrastructure to digital attacks.

At first glance, there may seem little connection between a remote hydroelectric dam in Norway and the sprawling digital bureaucracy of the UK’s tax system. Yet both were the targets of highly impactful cyber attacks—breaches that not only disrupted services but exposed weaknesses in the digital backbone of modern society.

The two incidents offer a sober…