Hack behind Dutch Prosecution Service's disconnect from internet

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) has been hacked, NRC reports based on an internal explanation from Hans Moonen, director of the OM’s IT service, regarding why the OM disconnected its internal systems from the internet. Whether and what data was stolen is not yet known.

“We cannot and must not take any risk of reconnecting to the internet without knowing that the actor has left our network,” Moonen said in the internal explanation. The OM reported the hack to the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) and the police.

“It is clear that it’s a massive and dramatic incident,” Moonen said. “Groups of OM staff have been working 24/7 since last Wednesday evening” to combat the hack.

On Friday, the OM disconnected its systems from the internet after the National Cybersecurity Center (NSCS) informed it about a vulnerability. Earlier this week, the OM announced that the disconnect could last for weeks.

OM employees can still email each other, but not the outside world, Marthyne Kunst of the OM crisis team told NOS. “That means we have to print a lot again and send out paper copies.”