Non-vital companies to also receive cyber attack warnings

In addition to vital companies, like energy producers and drinking water suppliers, non-vital companies in the Netherlands will also receive government warnings if they are facing a serious digital threat, such as a data leak or cyber attack, from Monday. The warnings will be issued by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' digital trust center DTC, NOS reports.

The warnings are necessary to make companies digitally more resilient, the Ministry said. Every year, about a fifth of companies fall victim to a cyber attack. And these attacks do not only result in business problems, but can also cause social disruption, the Ministry said.

The fact that the government is only now informing non-vital companies about digital threats, has to do with a legislative amendment. Before now, the National Cyber Security Center did not have the necessary powers to share information with the DTC and individual companies. 

The warnings to individual companies will initially take place by telephone and on a limited scale. The Ministry is looking into making this an automatic process in the future.