Dutch authorities have revealed a cyber attack resulting in the theft of details of almost all of the 65,000 police officers in the Netherlands. The digital heist includes police names and email addresses, along with an unspecified proportion of their private telephone numbers.
Minister of Justice and Security David Van Weel informed the House of Representatives of the problem in a letter last Friday, September 27th. While his department appears to be treating another state as the primary suspect, it has yet to name which one is responsible.
Dutch police union Nederlandse Politiebond (NPB) called it a “nightmare” and has advocated increased vigilance on the part of its members. The union was reassured that the identities of undercover officers remain safe, due to additional precautions used.
The loss of such a high volume of “work-related contact details” has led officers to brace themselves for incoming phishing attacks and equivalent activity. Van Weel said the contact information of “chain partners”—public prosecutors, probation officers, and lawyers—had also been compromised.
“Agents are afraid of unwanted visitors at their home address or unsolicited calls,” added NPB chair Nine Kooiman.
According to political reporter Xander van der Wulp:
Sources in The Hague suspect that it concerns Russia, because that country has tried it before. The ministry and the security services will now investigate further how it could have come to this.
Iranian hackers constitute a further group of possible suspects.
Publicly, the government appears to be taking the crisis in stride, with Prime Minister and former security operative Dick Schoof downplaying its importance, telling a press conference:
I am happy that the leak has been found … No one underestimates the risk that the police are running with this. These types of cyber investigations are incredibly complicated.
The data theft was also reported to the Dutch Data Protection Authority.
