One of the first hacker cases in Denmark led to the creation of DKCERT: the attack by Jub Jub Bird and Sprocket.
Armed with a couple of Amiga computers and a PC, these two young men hacked into the network of UNI-C in 1989. UNI-C was the national IT centre for research and education and operated a national Ethernet-based network.
The hackers used modems to call computers at UNI-C. By guessing passwords they managed to get access to the network and its computers.
Attacks against NASA
In December 1990, the two were at it again. This time they tried to access computers at NASA via a computer at Roskilde University in Denmark.
A systems administrator from NASA informed UNI-C in January 1991 that someone had tried to download the password file from one of the NASA servers.
In 1988, most of the internet had been hit by the so-called Morris Worm. This led to the creation of CERT/CC (Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center) at Carnegie Mellon University.
CERT/CC was tasked with coordinating the response to serious security incidents on the internet.
CERT/CC received a copy of the e-mail from NASA. They informed UNI-C that they had seen several other attempts at hacking originating from Roskilde University.
UNI-C reported the incident to the Danish police. Together, the people at UNI-C and the police managed to find Jub Jub Bird and Sprocket, who were arrested, tried, and convicted.
The establishment of DKCERT
Just as the Morris Worm led to the formation of CERT/CC, the Danish hacker case caused UNI-C to establish CERT in the summer of 1991. The name was later changed to DKCERT in order to distinguish it from the CERTs that were being set up in other countries.
In 1993, DKCERT was involved in solving the Haslev case. Again, hackers misused UNI-C networks and modems to gain access to computers at universities and elsewhere.
Management
Jørgen Bo Madsen was the first manager of CERT, a position he held from 1991 to 1997. Afterwards, CERT was placed together with the other security activities of UNI-C. In 2000, UNI-C hired former Deputy Superintendent of Police Preben Andersen as new manager of DKCERT.
In 2007, Shehzad Ahmad took over as manager. He left in 2015, and was replaced by Henrik Larsen.
Since the beginning, DKCERT has been a part of the Danish NREN (National Research and Education Network), forskningsnettet. Initially via UNI-C and since 2012 via DeiC (Danish e-Infrastructure Cooperation).