Dutch gov't also has communications holes: expert after US shares attack plans on Signal
American officials recently shared detailed attack plans on targets in Yemen on a Signal group after one of them had, maybe accidentally, added a journalist to the group. Something like that can also happen in the Netherlands, cyber security expert Bert Hubert told Parool. The Netherlands has rules and regulations around communicating State secrets, but ease often prevails.
Like in all other governments, Dutch Ministers and officials sent messages to each other, civil servants, and others, also in messaging groups. And they use messaging services like WhatsApp or Signal. “The Cabinet is investigating whether it can develop its own, secure chat app. But as long as that doesn’t yet exist, you cannot blame Ministers for using what is available,” Hubert said.
According to Parool, that’s mainly WhatsApp when it comes to the Dutch government. The government is obliged ot archive all messages from Cabinet members and top officials, and that is easy to do on WhatsApp. There is a rule that no confidential or secret informatio may be sent via such apps, but that doesn’t mean it never happens.
And even if a secure chat app did exist, it doesn’t mean that the Cabinet members will use it and only it all the time, Hubert added. “Suppose your boss has a platform for secure communication and says: this is the official channel, it is safe, it is monitored. Then you will see that informal chat groups emerge where colleagues gossip among themselves and share cat pictures - without the boss looking.”
There are past examples of the Dutch government having exactly that type of informal culture. The fall of the Lubbers III cabinet was prevented over a takeaway shop at a Minister’s home. During the Covid pandemic, CDA Minister Hugo de Jonge regularly used his private email for work, calling it “much more practical.” In 2014, VVD Minister Henk Kamp did the same, and state secrets were later found in his inbox.
Work communications are typicaly well-secured, and that often makes them more cumbersome to use. “The lamest excuse becomes a reason to choose the easiest option,” Hubert told Parool, referring to the shadow IT phenomenon. “Then you use your own phone or Gmail instead of the official channels.”
