Cyber Attacks Affect the Nervous System of Society

The digital and physical worlds are no longer distinguishable and digital processes shape the nervous system of society. They are indispensable for the undisturbed functioning of society. Living, working, travelling, paying: we live on a digital infrastructure. Just like air, water, road and rail, the digital infrastructure must also be and remain in order. If digital processes do not work properly, this can have a major impact on society. This is evident from the annual Cybersecuritybeeld Nederland (CSBN) by the National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism and NCTV), which was drawn up in collaboration with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Organisations are unable to do their work, personal data are exposed and facilities may break down. Examples include the hack at a cheese packaging company, a data leak at an ICT service provider for car companies and an ICT malfunction at hospitals that forced people to cancel appointments.

In the past year, NCSC has seen great differences in the resilience of companies and organisations. Experts are very concerned that this gap will widen in the future. In addition, even more processes have been digitised due to the circumstances surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. The importance of digital security has therefore also increased further. In addition, the threat level has developed further and the threat from state actors is increasingly mixing with the threat from cybercriminals.

For more information (in Dutch) please read the official article by NCSC.