Hackers that infected Maastricht University's network with ransomware were in the network for over two months before they attacked, was revealed in the forensic investigation into the attack. "They first mapped out the network in order to be able to roll out the ransomware as well as possible," security expert Frank Groenenweg of Fox-IT, who was involved in the investigation, said to NOS.
cybercrime
Feb 6 '20 13:30
Feb 6 '20 09:19
Companies and institutions reported nearly 27 thousand data breaches to the Dutch Data Protection Authority last year, an increase of 29 percent compared to 2018. Most of the leaks came from companies in the financial sector. The number of data leaks due to cyber attacks also increased, especially in the case of ransomware, NOS reports.
"We are seeing a huge increase in data breaches," Monique Verdier of the Dutch Data Protection Authority said to the broadcaster. "Last year we also saw a quarter more reports of attacks such as ransomware."
Feb 4 '20 08:17
More than half of people in the Netherlands postpone or simply forget to install important updates on their smart devices, according to a study by Panelwizard on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate. Under the slogan 'Do your updates', the Ministry is launching a campaign to actively urge people to make sure their devices are updated and safe against cyber criminals, AD reports.
Jan 31 '20 07:45
The Rijksmuseum Twenthe lost nearly 3 million euros to cyber criminals while trying to buy a painting from a London art dealer, museum director Arnoud Odding confirmed to NOS after reports by news agency Bloomberg. The case is still in court.
Jan 24 '20 08:18
Maastricht University paid between 200 thousand and 300 thousand euros to hackers who had blocked access to the university's digital systems with ransomware, various people involved told the Volkskrant. The university board was forced to pay because the university's backups were also hijacked. The backups - stored on the university servers - contain research data and data from students and staff from the past decades.
Jan 17 '20 11:05
The police arrested a 22-year-old man from Arnhem on Wednesday on suspicion of offering about 12 billion stolen usernames names and passwords for sale on website WeLeakInfo. The arrest was made as part of a joint investigation by the Dutch police, the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency, the United States' FBI, and Germany's Bundeskriminalamt.
Dec 11 '19 12:00
The police are expanding its cybercrime teams with 145 full-time employees. That doubles the capacity of the cybercrime teams, which were established early this year to fight digital crimes like hacking, phishing and ransomware, AD reports.
Nov 26 '19 11:20
The amount of damage caused by phishing scams is on the rise, according to figures from the Dutch Payments Association and the Dutch Banking Association. In the first half of this year, Netherlands residents lost 3.1 million euros to phishing scams, compared to 2.4 million euros in the second half of last year. Banks compensate this damage in most cases, NOS reports.
Oct 28 '19 08:31
Ransomware is a growing problem for Dutch companies. Small- and medium sized businesses in particular are popular targets for this type of malware, according to security researchers, insurers and sector organization MKB Nederland, NOS reports.
Ransomware is a type of malware that blocks access to the data on your computer, unless you pay the cyber criminal behind the malware a 'ransom'. For businesses it can mean losing access to their administration, customer data or other important documents, sometimes bringing an entire business to a standstill.
Oct 10 '19 09:09
The account details of the 250 thousand users of Dutch website Hookers.nl have leaked out after a vulnerability on the website was exploited. A hacker captured the members' data and is offering it for sale, NOS reports based on its own research after an anonymous tip. The website is popular among clients of sex workers, who exchange tips, reviews and experiences in the sex industry.
The problem extends beyond clients of sex workers. Sex workers themselves are also active on the website. They also may want to not be known as a sex worker with their real names.
Oct 4 '19 11:50
So far this year almost 15 thousand Dutch have fallen victim to phishing scams, the Fraud Help Desk announced on Friday based on the reports it received. Over 1.1 million euros were stolen in these scams, compared to 862 thousand euros in damages throughout all of 2018, NU.nl reports.
Aug 15 '19 16:00
Online platform No More Ransom, launched by the Dutch police, helped at least 300 Dutch people get rid of ransomware on their computers in the three years of its existence. Over 2.5 million people worldwide have consulted the platform, the police said in a statement on Thursday.
Aug 8 '19 11:00
It is "very likely" that fraudsters will target ABN Amro customers in the coming period, after the bank announced that it has to re-check all its existing clients in the fight against money laundering and other financial crimes, according to the Dutch Payments Association.
Jul 17 '19 07:49
Last year 8.5 percent of Dutch internet users aged 12 years or older fell victim to cybercrime. That amounts to 1.2 million Dutch victims, Statistics Netherlands reported on Wednesday based on a study performed in collaboration with the police. Young people fell victim most often. And the most common type of cyber crime was crime against property - crime in which the perpetrator stole money from the victim, according to the stats office.
Jun 26 '19 12:30
The Dutch and British police arrested a total of six suspects on Tuesday in an investigation into the theft of at least 24 million euros in cryptocurrency, EU agency Eurojust, who helped in the investigation, announced. According to the agency, the suspects stole bitcoin from at least four thousand victims in 12 different countries.
Jun 13 '19 13:00
The Dutch police are concerned about an increasingly popular development in cybercrime, which the police refer to as cybercrime-as-service. Criminals can now buy cyber attacks easily, cheaply and at any time of day or night, the police said in a statement.
Apr 2 '19 13:20
Dutch intelligence service AIVD warns of radical influences in education in its annual report for 2018. According to the service, "radical Islamic boosters" play an increasingly emphatic role in the education offer for young Muslims in the Netherlands. In the long term, this could undermine the democratic legal order, the AIVD said, NOS reports.
Mar 19 '19 17:20
The police took down 10 fake online stores which were made to look like English versions of real Dutch stores on Tuesday. Two suspects, a 40-year-old man from Leeuwarden and a 21-year-old man from Groningen, were arrested.
These English-language sites looked like the websites of real Dutch stores, with web addresses that were very similar to those of recognized stores with a Chamber of Commerce registration. Visitors bought products like milk powder, energy drinks, shampoo, deodorant and alcohol. After payment, the products were never delivered.
Feb 14 '19 13:20
Over the past days the police ran an online awareness campaign to show Dutch young people how their experimental behavior can "turn into cybercrime" with just one click. Nearly 10 thousand young people clicked on links to learn how to steal game money on Fortnite, hack into an Instagram account, or buy a DDoS attack targeting their school. Instead they ended up at the police campaign site - "You're just one click away from cybercrime".
Dec 18 '18 11:10
This year 11 young hackers between the ages of 12 and 23 were sent to intern at an IT company as part of their punishment. This forms part of the police and Public Prosecutor's experimental program Hack_Right, which aims to get these first offenders back on the right path.
Oct 15 '18 07:44
The Netherlands is the midst of a "cyber war" with Russia, Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld said on television program WNL op Zondag. According to the Minister, a foiled cyber attack by the Russian secret service on chemical weapons watchdog OPCW shows that the nature of war has changed.
Sep 13 '18 08:15
The government is pushing extra money into the police and fighting cybercrime next year. A once off amount of 30 million euros will go to fighting cybercrime, and the police will get an extra 58 million euros, sources in The Hague told newspaper AD.
The extra 58 million euros for the police comes on top of the approximately 260 million euros already being invested.
May 25 '18 07:44
Rabobank and ABN Amro were targeted by DDoS attacks on Thursday night and Friday morning. As a result their online and mobile banking, iDeal payments and websites were hard to reach or completely offline for several hours.
The attacks on Rabobank started around 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, NOS reports. The problems were resolved shortly before midnight. ABN Amro was attacked during the early hours of Friday morning.
In a DDoS attack a website is bombarded by large amounts of data, crashing its server and therefore also the site.
May 16 '18 15:00
The falling crime figures in the Netherlands sometimes clash with reality, National Police chief Erik Akerbom said on Wednesday at the presentation of the police's annual results for 2017. Last year crime figures fell by 11 percent, the fifth year in a row that there's been a decline.
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