Dutch police breached by a state actor

The Dutch government blames a “state actor” for hacking a police system, exposing the contact details of all police officers, according to the justice minister.

The Dutch police blame a state actor for the recent data breach that exposed officers’ contact details, the justice minister told lawmakers.

The incident took place on September 26, 2024, and the police have reported the security breach to the Data Protection Authority.

Threat actors broke into a police system and gained access to work-related contact details of multiple officers. The attackers had access to names, emails, phone numbers, and some private information belonging to police officers.

“Last week it became known that a police account was hacked. Work-related contact details of police officers were stolen.” reads the data breach notice published by Dutch police. “Apart from the names of colleagues, it does not concern private data or research data. Specialists within the police are investigating the impact of the incident.”

The police state that internal cyber specialists are investigating the security breach and the investigation is still ongoing. The Dutch police announced that they have identified the attackers, however, they haven’t publicly attributed it to a specific actor.

“The police have been informed by the intelligence services that it is very likely a ‘state actor’, in other words: another country or perpetrators on behalf of another country.” reads the update on the data breach published by Dutch Polite. “Based on the information from the intelligence services, the police immediately implemented strong security measures against this attack. In order not to make the perpetrators any wiser and not to harm further investigation, no more can be said at this time.” 

Dutch intelligence agencies believe it is highly likely that a state actor was behind the recent police data breach. Justice Minister David van Weel assured lawmakers that police and national security partners are working to protect impacted officers and prevent further damage.

“Nine Kooiman, chair of the Netherlands Police Union, called the hack “a nightmare. It is now important to protect data, protect colleagues” and track down the perpetrators.” reported the Associated Press.

Pierluigi Paganini

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(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Dutch police)