Foreign hackers suspected of capturing data from police officers in Netherlands

Names of about 65,000 police officers were stolen in the cyberattack

Personal details of police officers in the Netherlands have been stolen by hackers. Getty Images

An unidentified “state actor” was probably behind the hacking of thousands of Dutch police officers' contact details, the country's Justice Minister has said. Personal details of about 65,000 police officers were stolen last Friday in a cyber attack.

Justice Minister David van Weel said a foreign country was believed to be behind the attack. He did not give details about which country. “The intelligence and security services consider it highly likely that a state actor is responsible” for the hack, he said in a letter to parliament.

News about the stolen details, which Mr Van Weel said contained “names, email addresses, telephone numbers and in a few cases, personal data”, caused significant concern among police personnel.

“I can imagine that police officers are concerned about the possible consequences of the hack,” he said. “The chief of police and I take this hacking incident very seriously. The police, together with national security partners, are doing everything they can to protect police officers and prevent further damage.”

He told MPs that the hackers also got away with data about judges and public prosecutors and obtained “contact information from permanent partners”, but said the number of people affected is limited. Neither the police nor the country's security services gave further information, saying the investigation was continuing.

Last week, Mr Van Weel revealed that the government was assessing whether undercover officers were at risk from the cyberattack.

In February, the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service said it had discovered malware in a computer network being used by its military, blaming a Chinese state actor. Beijing strenuously denied the “groundless accusations” saying it always opposed and cracked down on cyberattacks.

In April 2018, the Netherlands expelled four alleged agents from Russia's GRU military intelligence agency for trying to hack the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. The Dutch broke with their usual practice of keeping such operations secret and revealed details of the plot, in co-ordination with US and British authorities.