PST warns of increasing hybrid threats and digital influence operations. Data analysis is crucial in the fight against cyberattacks and disinformation, and Noroff’s programs provide students with the necessary skills.
Hybrid Threats Create New Security Challenges
The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) recently released a report on the threat landscape for 2025, which points out that hybrid threats—a combination of cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, and influence operations—pose an increasing risk to Norway.
Hybrid threats make it challenging to identify the attacker, and they exploit digital channels to manipulate information and undermine trust in society, PST warns in the report.
Such threats require advanced analytical tools to uncover patterns in large datasets and identify false information before it spreads. By using data analysis, security professionals can detect unusual digital movements, map disinformation networks, and predict potential cyberattacks before they occur.
Several Paths to Critical Data Analysis Expertise
In the face of an increasingly complex threat landscape, it is crucial to have professionals who can interpret large datasets and extract critical insights. Norway needs analysts who understand how data can be used to protect the nation’s digital security and expose unwanted influence operations. Two programs at Noroff, Bachelor in Applied Data Science and the Data Analyst vocational course, provide students with valuable expertise in this field – albeit with different approaches and depths.
Bachelor in Applied Data Science
The program provides an academic understanding of how data analysis and machine learning can be used to identify threats and develop predictive models. Students learn to build and train machine learning models to detect unusual patterns in datasets, develop data analysis solutions for the security sector, and use artificial intelligence to identify potential cyber threats.
Data Analyst
This practice-oriented course provides a solid understanding of how data can be structured, analyzed, and interpreted to uncover patterns. Students learn to collect and analyze data to understand digital threats, use analytical tools to filter out misinformation and unwanted influence, and interpret data to provide decision-makers with a basis for preventive measures.
Technological Defense Against Hybrid Attacks
To counter hybrid threats, more than traditional cybersecurity is required – advanced data analysis and a strategic understanding of digital information flows are needed. Education in data analysis equips future professionals with the skills required to detect and manage such threats.
We are seeing an increasing use of data as a weapon in influence operations, where false information is strategically spread to create unrest, PST writes in its report.
By combining data analysis with a solid understanding of security, one can map how such operations function and stop them before they have serious consequences.
Through studies in Applied Data Science or the Data Analyst vocational course, students gain practical experience in how technology can be used to identify, understand, and combat digital threats. The need for this expertise is great – and will only increase in the coming years.
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