Dutch gov't to take on hackers in 2015 debate

The so called "back hacking law", the legislative proposal cybercrime II, will be submitted to the Second Chamber early next year. This Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten wrote in written responses to questions from the D66. D66 Parliament Members Berndsen-Jansen and Verhoeven asked questions regarding the so called "back hacking". In the past the Dutch police have deliberately broken into servers that were suspected of having criminal content. This happened under the responsibility of the Public Prosecutor, and after authorization by a magistrate. The hacking was permitted because the location of the server was unknown. To date back hacking is not yet recorded in Dutch law. Minister Opstelten points out that the term hacking does not appear in the Code of Criminal Procedure. He calls the infiltration of suspected computer networks "necessary" for the detection of many forms of internet crime. The minister promises that the legislative proposal cybercrime III will ensure that the investigative authorities can grow with new technological possibilities. He also writes that strict conditions and an order from the public prosecutor will be required with hacking suspect servers. Blackshades is a well known case where the police infiltrated a foreign server. This is named after software with which malware can be developed. With permission from the Public Prosecutor, the Dutch police hacked a Blackshades server whose location was unknown. House searches in the Netherlands and other European countries were the result of the hack. The Cabinet has already announced plans to expand the number of investigations into cybercrime. In 2015 there are expected to be 200 investigations. By 2018 the number of investigations should increase to 360 per year.