Dutch Police: ‘State actor’ likely behind recent data breach
The national Dutch police (Politie) says that a state actor was likely behind the data breach it detected last week.
The attack compromised police office contact details, names, email addresses, phone numbers, and in some cases, private details.
According to the original report, the attacker had hacked a police account and stole work-related contact details of multiple officers.
The investigation is ongoing and the police decided not to reveal publicly who is responsible or how they carried out the attack until all the details have been collected and analyzed.
Currently, the police are looking into the “nature, scope, and consequences of the data leak.”
Politie says it has implemented stronger security measures to counter the attack, and added that they know exactly who is behind it, but don’t want to give away too much information at this point.
“The police were informed by intelligence services that it is very likely a ‘state actor’—in other words, another country or perpetrators acting on behalf of another country. Based on the intelligence services’ information, the police immediately implemented strong security measures to counter this attack. To prevent making the perpetrators more aware and to not jeopardize further investigation, no more information can be shared at this time.” – Politie
Employees of the Dutch police force are now required to use two-factor authentication for logging into their accounts more frequently as a security measure to prevent unauthorized access.
Additionally, all systems are being continuously monitored for any signs of abnormal activity, and the IT staff is on high alert to take immediate action.
Although Politie did not specify how many people are impacted by this incident, a letter to the Dutch House of Representatives sent by David van Weel, Minister of Justice and Security in the Netherlands, informs that “work-related contact details of all police officers have been stolen.”
Politie says that additional information will become public as soon as it is possible, as the details may affect the current investigation.
