Dutch government says pro-Russian hackers target municipalities linked to this week's NATO summit
The National Cybersecurity Center said in a statement that many of the attacks were claimed by a pro-Russian hackers' group known as NoName057(16) 'and appear to have a pro-Russian ideological motive.' It did not elaborate.
The cybersecurity center said it was investigating the attacks that flood a site with data in order to overwhelm it and knock it offline, and was in contact with 'national and international partners.'
Raoul Rozestraten, a spokesman for the municipality in The Hague, the Dutch city hosting the summit Tuesday and Wednesday, said the attacks hit municipalities around the country.
'We noticed more traffic on the website of some of our service providers,' he told The Associated Press. 'As of now, everything in The Hague is working normally."
The government had launched a major security operation, named 'Orange Shield,' around the NATO summit.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
High-level talks held on support for Ukraine a week after Trump said Europe will pay for weapons
The U.K. and Germany are chairing a meeting Monday to discuss President Donald Trump 's plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons, a week after the U.S. president said deliveries would arrive in Ukraine within days. The virtual meeting will be lead by British Defense Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. Healey said U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO leader Mark Rutte, as well as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, will attend the meeting of Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The talks come after Russia pounded Ukraine with some 300 drone strikes Saturday, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate. In an shift of tone toward Russia, the U.S. president last week gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions. Trump's arms plan, announced a week ago, involves European nations sending American weapons to Ukraine via NATO — either from existing stockpiles or buying and donating new ones. The U.S. president indicated discussions were partly focused on advanced Patriot air defense systems and said a week ago that deliveries would begin 'within days.' But last week various senior officials suggested no transfers had yet taken place. NATO's Grynkewich told The Associated Press on Thursday that 'preparations are underway' for weapons transfers to Ukraine while U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said he couldn't give a time frame. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that Germany will finance two new Patriot systems for Ukraine and raised the possibility of supplying systems it already owns and having them replaced by the U.S. But delivery could take time, Merz suggested because 'they have to be transported, they have to be set up; that is not a question of hours, it is a question of days, perhaps weeks." Other Patriot systems could come thanks to Switzerland, whose defense ministry said Thursday it was informed by the U.S. Defense Department that it will 'reprioritize the delivery" of five previously ordered systems to support Ukraine. While Ukraine waits for Patriots, a senior NATO official said the alliance is still coordinating the delivery of other military aid — such as ammunition and artillery rounds — which includes aid from the U.S. that was briefly paused. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that his officials have proposed a new round of peace talks this week. Russian state media on Sunday reported that no date has yet been set for the negotiations, but said that Istanbul would likely remain the host city. The Kremlin spokesman said Sunday that Russia is open to peace with Ukraine, but achieving its goals remains a priority. ___
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Weak password allowed hackers to sink a 158-year-old company
One password is believed to have been all it took for a ransomware gang to destroy a 158-year-old company and put 700 people out of - a Northamptonshire transport company - is just one of tens of thousands of UK businesses that have been hit by such names such as M&S, Co-op and Harrods have all been attacked in recent months. The chief executive of Co-op confirmed last week that all 6.5 million of its members had had their data stolen. In KNP's case, it's thought the hackers managed to gain entry to the computer system by guessing an employee's password, after which they encrypted the company's data and locked its internal director Paul Abbott says he hasn't told the employee that their compromised password most likely led to the destruction of the company."Would you want to know if it was you?" he asks."We need organisations to take steps to secure their systems, to secure their businesses," says Richard Horne CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) - where Panorama has been given exclusive access to the team battling international ransomware gangs. One small mistake In 2023, KNP was running 500 lorries – most under the brand name Knights of company said its IT complied with industry standards and it had taken out insurance against a gang of hackers, known as Akira, got into the system leaving staff unable to access any of the data needed to run the business. The only way to get the data back, said the hackers, was to pay. "If you're reading this it means the internal infrastructure of your company is fully or partially dead…Let's keep all the tears and resentment to ourselves and try to build a constructive dialogue," read the ransom hackers didn't name a price, but a specialist ransomware negotiation firm estimated the sum could be as much as £5m. KNP didn't have that kind of money. In the end all the data was lost, and the company went under. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) says its goal is "to make the UK the safest place to live and work online". It says it deals with a major attack every NCSC is part of GCHQ, one of the UK's three main security services alongside MI5 and hackers are not doing anything new, says "Sam" (not his real name), who runs a NCSC team dealing with day-to-day attacks. They are just looking for a weak link, he tells Panorama."They're just constantly finding organisations on a bad day and then taking advantage of them."Using intelligence sources, NCSC operatives try to spot attacks and eject hackers from computer systems before they can deploy ransom software. "Jake" (not his real name) was night duty officer during a recent incident when hackers were stopped."You understand the scale of what's going on and you want to reduce the harm," he says. "It can be thrilling, especially if we're successful."But the NCSC can only provide one layer of protection, and ransomware is a growing and lucrative crime."Part of the problem is there's a lot of attackers," says Sam. "There's not that many of us."Statistics are hard to come by because companies don't have to report attacks or if they have paid ransoms. However, there were an estimated 19,000 ransomware attacks on UK businesses last year, according to the government's cyber-security research suggests the typical UK ransom demand is about £4m and that about a third of companies simply pay up. "We've seen a wave of criminal cyber-attacks over the last few years," says Richard Horne, the NCSC's CEO. He denies the criminals are winning, but says that companies need to improve their prevention doesn't work, another team of officers at the National Crime Agency (NCA) has the job of catching the is on the rise because it's such a lucrative crime, says Suzanne Grimmer, who heads a team unit carried out the initial assessment into the M&S hack. Incidents have almost doubled to about 35-40 a week since she took over the unit two years ago, Ms Grimmer says."If it continues, I predict it's going to be the worst year on record for ransomware attacks in the UK."Hacking is becoming easier and some of the tactics don't even involve a computer, like ringing an IT helpdesk to gain has lowered the barrier for potential attacks says Ms Grimmer: "These criminals are becoming far more able to access tools and services that you don't need a specific technical skill set for."The M&S hackers broke into the company's system by means of blagging or tricking their way into the system. This caused disruption to shoppers when deliveries were delayed, some shelves were left bare, and customer data was also Babbage, Director General (Threats) at the NCA, says it is the characteristic of a younger generation of hackers, who now are "getting into cybercrime probably through gaming". "They're recognising that their sort of skills can be used to con help desks and the like into getting them access into companies."Once inside, the hackers can use ransom software, bought on the dark web, to steal data and lock computer is the most significant cyber-crime threat we face, says Mr Babbage."It's a national security threat in its own right, both here and throughout the world."Others have come to the same December 2023, Parliament's Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy warned there was a high risk of a "catastrophic ransomware attack at any moment".Earlier this year, the National Audit Office produced a report that said the threat to the UK was severe and advancing need to "think about cyber-security in all the decisions they make," says Richard Horne at the Babbage says he would also discourage victims from paying ransoms."Every victim needs to make their own choice, but it is the paying of ransoms which fuels this crime," he government has proposed banning public bodies from paying companies might have to report ransom attacks and get government permission to pay in Northamptonshire, Paul Abbott of KNP now gives talks warning other businesses about the cyber thinks companies should have to prove they have up-to-date IT protection - a sort of "cyber-MOT"."There needs to be rules that make you much more resilient to criminal activity," he many companies are just choosing not to report the crime but simply to pay the criminals, says Paul Cashmore, a cyber-specialist brought in by KNP's faced with losing everything, companies give in to the gangs."This is organised crime," he says. "I think there is very little progress against catching the perpetrators, but it's devastating."
Rhyl Journal
5 hours ago
- Rhyl Journal
Healey to call for '50-day drive' to arm Ukraine and force Putin to negotiate
John Healey is expected to argue that the West should again boost its military support for Ukraine in an effort to bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. Donald Trump has already threatened to impose 'very severe' tariffs on Russia if it does not agree a ceasefire by September 2, 50 days on from the US president's announcement that he would sell 'top-of-the-line' weapons to Nato that could then be given to Ukraine. On Monday, Mr Healey will use a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) to back Mr Trump's proposal and pledge that the UK will 'play our full part in its success to bolster Ukraine's immediate fight'. Calling for more support from Western allies, he is expected to say: 'Alongside this, the US has started the clock on a 50-day deadline for Putin to agree to peace or face crippling economic sanctions. 'As members of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, we need to step up in turn with a '50-day drive' to arm Ukraine on the battlefield and force Putin to the negotiating table.' Monday will be the fourth time Mr Healey has chaired the UDCG, and the third occasion he has done so alongside German defence minister Boris Pistorius. The group, which brings together defence ministers and officials from Ukraine's allies, was chaired by the US until Mr Trump came to power and began rowing back on American support for Kyiv and European security. Mr Healey's comments come as the Ministry of Defence confirmed the UK had sent £150 million worth of air defence missiles and artillery rounds to Ukraine in the past two months. The deliveries are part of a commitment to spend £700 million on air defence and artillery ammunition for Ukraine this year, alongside other funding to provide more of the drones that have become key weapons in the war with Russia. The UK has delivered 50,000 drones to Ukraine in the last six months, with another 20,000 coming from a coalition of nations led by Britain and Latvia. Monday's UDCG is expected to see further commitments, with Germany and the UK agreeing to procure more air defence missiles using 170 million euros of funding from Berlin. Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said it was 'right' that the Government 'continues to provide all possible support to Ukraine'. He added: 'It is also important that we stand firm alongside the United States in reinforcing their 50-day deadline to ensure Putin is under maximum pressure to pursue peace. 'That means all of our allies playing their part, and following the PM's recent summit with Chancellor Merz, we hope that this 50-day drive will include German confirmation that it intends to provide Taurus missiles to Ukraine.' Meanwhile, Russia continues to bombard Ukraine with drones and missiles. Confirming a string of attacks on civilian targets in Odesa and critical infrastructure in the Sumy region on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also thanked international leaders 'who understand how important it is to promptly implement our agreements' aimed at boosting Ukraine's defence capabilities.
