The Netherlands - what digital country is this

[FanJ]

rant on

What kind of "digital" country is this country (The Netherlands) actually?
No, this rant is not about politics. It is about government and companies not taking security and privacy seriously.

Let's take some examples:

1.
The Diginotar fiasco from last year that the country's digital infrastructure almost got to collapse.
Insufficient security checks and contra-checks by real experts, relying too much on paperwork only checks, not updated software, too late reported to official authorities, official authorities acting not pro-active, etc.

2.
Recently a big bank having big problems with online banking. And not once. As it seems both database and networks issues. Online banking is getting pushed more and more, you can hardly be without it anymore. But back-ups, no the bank doesn't to want tell whether they have it.

3.
Paying for travelling by trains and other means (not car) (the so-called "OV chipcard"). On-going issues. And if there is a problem, the consumer has to go through hoops to get his/her money back. But oh, the companies want so much the details of your travelling.

4.
Very recently: the biggest telecom company (KPN) was hacked.
Too late reported to the official authorities. Not updated software. At least full details of 500 users open into the public. Two millions mail accounts temporarily closed.

5.
I'd better not talk about digital medical information ......

/end of rant

[BoerenkoolMetWorst]

Yeah, our government sucks at privacy and security

About the OV-chipcards, they store the gathered data for 7 years(!) and are also the country in Europe with the most wiretaps per year.

[Wroll]

Seems to be a normal country to me.

[FanJ]

Originally Posted by Wroll

Seems to be a normal country to me.

sigh of relief - we're normal - what tells that about this digital world? -

4.
Very recently: the biggest telecom company (KPN) was hacked.
Too late reported to the official authorities. Not updated software. At least full details of 500 users open into the public. Two millions mail accounts temporarily closed.

KPN users can email again, at least it seems.
Was it only an hack on the site of the company Baby Dump?
See for example the Dutch news site Nu.nl

[Wroll]

When I said normal I was talking about the digital world in Netherlands. Incompetence and mistakes are part of our lives, digital or not digital, state owned or private.

[FanJ]

Originally Posted by Wroll

Incompetence and mistakes are part of our lives, digital or not digital, state owned or private.

Absolutely true, fully agreed.

And add to that incompetence and mistakes a lost battle for privacy, a complete disdain of privacy (o yeah, they have the mouth full of words "we protect your privacy" but in the meanwhile.... "we give you better experience", "we give you great offers", but we want to know everything about you and so on), a complete disdain of security (o yeah, they have the mouth full of words about security but in the meanwhile they give d**n s**t about it). That's the world we're living in.

As Cudni has in her sig "once we only had ideals, today they are the only things we are missing".

[ronjor]

Dutch police arrest 17-year-old suspected of breaching hundreds of KPN servers

By Loek Essers, IDG News Service

The Dutch High Tech Crime Team has arrested a 17-year-old suspected of compromising customer account data on hundreds of servers belonging to telecommunications operator KPN.

The teenager was arrested last Tuesday in the Dutch town of Barendrecht, where police seized an encrypted computer, two laptops and other storage media including external hard drives, DVDs and USB sticks, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service announced on Monday.

"He has made a confession," said Wim de Bruin, spokesman for the Public Prosecution Service.

https://www.networkworld.com/news/20...ed-257680.html

[ronjor]

Report: Dutch government was unprepared for SSL hack

By Loek Essers, IDG News Service
June 28, 2012 09:10 AM ET

The Dutch government was unprepared to handle an SSL hack that caused the government's communication infrastructure to be vulnerable for months, the Dutch Safety Board said in a report on Thursday. Because the government was unable to replace the certificates immediately, citizen and company data was left unsecured, the board said.

The Dutch government's communications safety was severely compromised in 2011 after a hacker broke into DigiNotar, a Dutch provider of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates that are used to protect digital communication. The DigiNotar hack rendered all certificates issued by the company untrustworthy, and thus affected the digital security of Dutch government and tax systems, among others.

https://www.networkworld.com/news/20...ed-260539.html

[FanJ]

Ough, there are still TAX advisors in The Netherlands who are using Diginotar certs. My goodness What digital country is this actually?

Warning (in Dutch) from the Department of Finance:
http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/minister...tificaten.html

[gerardwil]

Originally Posted by FanJ

Ough, there are still TAX advisors in The Netherlands who are using Diginotar certs. My goodness What digital country is this actually?

Warning (in Dutch) from the Department of Finance:
http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/minister...tificaten.html

Hi Jan, read also this and you will notice that it isn't so bad as it seems.
In fact, depends on the glasses you use, you also can say it isn't bad at all.

http://tweakers.net/nieuws/83309/vee...rtificaat.html

[FanJ]

Originally Posted by gerardwil

Hi Jan, read also this and you will notice that it isn't so bad as it seems.
In fact, depends on the glasses you use, you also can say it isn't bad at all.

http://tweakers.net/nieuws/83309/vee...rtificaat.html

Hi Gerard,
Thanks.
I had hardly the time to read more about it the last days: far too busy with preparing for the appointment with my TAX advisor tomorrow (and yes, I have been in contact with him about it).
Sorry for the short reply.

[gerardwil]

SIDN, the company behind .nl, announced today that the Dutch country-code domain now has more DNSSEC-signed domain names than any other domain on the internet. In the space of a few short weeks, the number of DNSSEC domain names under .nl has increased from a few hundred to more than 355,000. The growth has propelled .nl ahead of the Czech top-level domain .cz and Brazil's .br, which were until recently home to the most DNSSEC domain names.

https://SIDN (07 August 2012)

[FanJ]

Thanks Gerard for the DNSSEC-article.

===

At the other site of the coin there was recently the interview of Ronald Prins, director of Dutch security company Fox-IT, in the Dutch newspaper the Volkskrant warning again about the security state of things in The Netherlands. Only in Dutch:
http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2694/...eraanval.dhtml

[ronjor]

Some posts in this thread split to this thread.