Dutch police warn that their IT infrastructure is “outdated and vulnerable”

The Dutch National Police and the Public Prosecution Service say that their IT systems are “outdated” and “vulnerable to external attacks.” The brass is asking for tough choices and substantial investments from the government.

In an interview with Dutch news outlet De Volkskrant, Chief of Police Janny Knol and Director of the Public Prosecution Service Rinus Otte pleaded for investment and modernization of the IT systems in their organizations.

They argue that the information and communication systems of the Dutch National Police and the Public Prosecution Service in the Netherlands are “outdated” and “vulnerable to external attacks.”

“I’m saying this a bit ironically, but I would like the new cabinet to make some tough choices. Things can’t go on like this. As long as our IT infrastructure isn’t up-to-date, the Public Prosecution Service won’t be able to implement new policies and legislation,” Otte tells De Volkskrant.

At the same time, they claim that cybercrime is on the rise. However, there’s little to no room to allocate resources in combating online crime.

“The police system is still primarily geared towards combating traditional crime. Moreover, the way in which the police are financed leaves little room for investment in technology, even if this would be more effective in combating crime and helping victims,” Knol says on the website of the Dutch National Police.

Otte addresses the international nature of cybercrime, which makes the work of police officers and the Public Prosecution Service much more challenging. Taking websites and apps offline requires a significant amount of work, which must also be done across international borders.

“Sometimes we can take sites and apps offline. But before we can do that, we need to know who is behind them, what exactly the suspects have done, and be able to prove it. That's not easy, because this type of crime doesn't respect national borders. We will have to make a change in the way we work, which is still in its infancy,” the director of the Public Prosecution Service stated.

On Tuesday, the Minister of Justice and Security Foort van Oosten told the House of Representatives that the IT infrastructure of the Public Prosecution Service has almost completely recovered from the Citrix vulnerability.

Last year, the Public Prosecution Service decided to disconnect its internal systems from the internet as a precautionary measure. This decision was prompted by a report from the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) that a vulnerability in Citrix, the system used by the organization to enable employees to work from home, may have been exploited.

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