The intelligence services AIVD and MIVD may temporarily do more to act against cyber attacks by states such as Russia and China. That is what the cabinet has decided. They will not be given more powers, but they can act faster and more effectively because in fewer cases explicit permission has to be requested in advance.
“An attack starts in the Netherlands and suddenly jumps to South America, for example. In order to follow the attacker, authorization has to be requested again, while you want to be able to watch immediately,” says Minister Bruins Slot.
For example, the services are allowed to do more with ‘bulk interception’, that is, collecting and sifting through large amounts of data. In terms of hacking, the services are allowed to change methods and systems more quickly because hostile hackers do too.
“Russia, China, but also other countries have attacking cyber strategies,” says Bruins Slot, who is responsible for the AIVD. “The Russian intelligence service has just hijacked Dutch routers. The attackers are fast and agile, so should we.”
War
The cabinet already passed the law at the end of last year announced in connection with increasing digital attacks on the Netherlands by Russia and China. The countries are shutting down systems, sabotaging digital infrastructures, spying and stealing information.
“The services have to protect us in a world in which Russia and China play the game according to completely different rules,” said Defense Minister Ollongren, who is in charge of the MIVD. “I think the war that’s going on now makes people realize even more how important this is.”
The bill is today public made for stakeholders to respond to.
The two intelligence services are under the legal supervision of the Commission of Oversight of the Intelligence and Security Services (CTIVD† This committee assesses whether the AIVD and the MIVD comply with the law.
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