Dutch government sets up National Cyber Security Centre
The Dutch government has set up a new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to deal with with the growing problem of online crime. The NCSC, which is a public-private partnership, commenced operations on 1 January 2012. Its ambition is to grow, in a phased manner, into the cooperation platform for cyber security in the Netherlands.
Cyber crime is a growing problem for governments, businesses and citizens alike. That became clear in 2011 when an Iranian hacker managed to break into the files of the company DigiNotar that provides security certificates for Dutch government websites. This gave the digital intruder access to sensitive information from and about citizens. And in December 123,000 Dutch domains were infected with a virus, which appears to have been a targeted attack.
In the Netherlands several government departments are involved in the fight against cyber crime - and that's precisely the problem. The NCSC should improve coordination between them. The centre will bundle together a lot of knowledge and expertise. The NCSC is composed of over sixty people and will deal especially with the major issues.
