Prosecutor predicts sharp rise in cybercrime

Cybercrime will increase significantly over the next few years, according to Attorney General Gerrit van der Burg on Nieuwsuur on Wednesday. The Public Prosecution Service predicts that about 50 percent of all crime in the Netherlands will consist of cybercrime within 5 years. According to Van der Burg, an increasing number of institutions, companies and individuals have their computers attacked by criminals. And the techniques used to do so are getting easier and easier, to such an extent that criminals can disrupt thousands of computers at the push of a button. After the summer the Public Prosecutor plans to train prosecutors specifically for fighting cybercrime. Van der Burg hopes that parliament will soon approve a new law that will make it possible for the police and judiciary to start spying on suspects' computers sooner.