Dutch businesses and the public sector are well protected against cybersecurity threats compared to other countries, according to a report from the Central Planning Bureau on the risks for cybersecurity. Dutch websites employ encryption techniques relatively often, and the ISPs take measures to limit the impact of DDoS attacks, the report said. Small and medium-sized businesses are less active than large companies in protecting their activities, employing techniques such as data encryption less often, the CPB found. This creates risks for small business and consumers that could be avoided. The report also found that the Dutch are more often victims of cybercrime than other forms of crime. This implies a high cost for society to ensure cybersecurity. In 2016, already 11 percent of businesses incurred costs due to a hacking attempt. The threat of DDoS attacks will only increase in the coming years due to the growing number of IoT devices. This was already evident in the attacks against Dutch bank websites earlier this year. A further risk is that over half the most important banks in the world use the same DDoS protection service. According to the paper Financieele Dagblad, this supplier is Akamai. The company provides DDoS protection for 16 of the 30 largest banks worldwide. The Dutch banks ABN Amro, ING and Rabobank said they were not dependent on a single provider. The CPB report also found that the often reported shortage of qualified ICT staff is less of a threat than thought. The number of ICT students has risen 50 percent in four years and around 100,000 ICT jobs have been added in the country since 2008. Already 5 percent of all jobs are in ICT. This puts the Netherlands at the top of the pack in Europe, alongside the Nordic countries. Source: https://www.telecompaper.com/news/central-planning-bureau-finds-dutch-cybersecurity-at-high-level–1264818

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Central planning bureau finds Dutch cybersecurity at high level