Russian hackers last year targeted a Dutch public facility in the first such an attack on the lowlands country’s infrastructure, its military intelligence services said on Monday.
The Netherlands remained an “interesting target country” for Moscow due to its ongoing support for Ukraine, its Hague-based international organizations, high-tech industries and harbors such as Rotterdam, the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) said in its yearly report.
Last year, the MIVD “saw a Russian hacker group carry out a cyberattack against the digital control system of a public facility in the Netherlands,” MIVD Director Vice Admiral Peter Reesink said in the 52-page report.
Photo: EPA
“As far as known, this is the first time that such a sabotage attack has been carried out against such a digital control system in the Netherlands,” Reesink said.
The MIVD did not name the public facility, adding that “ultimately the attack caused no damage.”
It warned that various Russian units were mapping the infrastructure of the North Sea, and were carrying out underwater activities that “indicated espionage and preparatory actions for disruptions and sabotage.”
“Think, for example, of Internet cables, drinking water and energy supplies,” Reesink said.
A former Dutch defense minister already warned in 2018 — almost four years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — that it was locked in a “cyberwar” with Moscow.
Ank Bijleveld’s words came in the wake of an alleged hacking attempt outside the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Hague.
Four GRU military intelligence officials were expelled from the Netherlands as a result.
Back then, Russia dismissed the hacking scandal as “disinformation” and accusations that it has orchestrated a string of global cyberattacks as “spy mania”.
Since Moscow’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of its neighbor, the Netherlands has supplied a number of F-16 jets to Kyiv, as well as a Patriot missile air defense system.
Last week, Dutch Minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans announced that 150 million euros (US$172 million) have been allocated for Ukraine’s air defense systems.
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
RSS