Article FD: Cyber Security Organisations Call for National Government to Take Control in Fight Against Cybercrime

On Friday 17 September an interview with Hans de Vries, director National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was published in FD. In this article de Vries mentions that the approach to cybercrime in the Netherlands is too fragmented and that following the French example, there should be a cybercrime campus where all parties involved collaborate more intensively.

Following the interview, cybersecurity organisations call for the national government to take controle in the fight against cybercrime and a central physical location. The number of incidents in which companies, government agencies or even hospitals become a victim of hackers is rising in a rapid pace. To fight cybercriminals effectively, serious control is needed, according to the cybersecurity organisations.

'Our defense is now without direction,' says Michiel Steltman, director of the Netherlands Digital Infrastructure Foundation, a coalition of thousands of IT and cloud companies. 'And right now we need a central approach. This won't work without a central location.' 

FD also mentioned that The Netherlands already has a cluster of cybersecurity knowledge: The Hague Security Delta. It is a partnership of government, knowledge institutions and businesses with the HSD Campus in The Hague as a physical meeting place. But the more than 250 partners are not all physically located at the HSD Campus. HSD build a recognised track record in its three strategic themes of AI/data & Intel, smart secure society and cyber security&resilience, but on the last topic not yet a formalised position. 

Joris den Bruinen, director HSD: 'There is al lot of fragmentation within the cybersecurity domain. There are so many different interests, services and sectors, which haven't joined forces'. Physical proximity would help, he says. 'Trust is the basis for collaboration and information sharing. This can be enhanced when sitting together and learning to speak each other's language.'

Joep Gommers, CEO of EclecticIQ: "Close collaboration is very important if you have to act quickly. With a new attack, or a new virus, everyone has the same problem. From Shell to the government. It would help enormously if all parties involved are in the same room. Not only in combating an attack, but also in prevention and proactively responding to vulnerabilities in software and networks.'

Read the official article in FD (in Dutch)