News item | 02-10-2023 | 2:30 PM
The attention and willingness to take action among Dutch companies and consumers for digital security is again increasing slightly. That appears from Alert Online 2023, the annual survey into cyber awareness commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK). However, according to Minister Micky Adriaansens (EZK), we cannot sit back and relax. More alertness and targeted measures from entrepreneurs and consumers with government support are necessary for safe digital business.
Just like in 2022, three-quarters of Dutch people consider their own knowledge about online risks as phishing, hacking and malware fair to good. But still more than two-thirds of Dutch consumers and 59% of company employees do not report or report cyber attacks or crime. And one in five small SMEs (was 25% in 2022) still takes no action at all to be digitally secure.
Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate): “It is good to see that more Dutch people are becoming aware of cyber risks. Consider more secure logging into systems or updating devices. The government is not standing still either. For example, my European colleagues and I are working on… Cyber Resiliency Actwhich sets requirements that make devices digitally more secure: in other words security by design.”
The minister continues: “You cannot emphasize enough awareness often enough. So I once again call on everyone to report online risks more often and all companies to make digital security part of their business operations. And use the help we offer, such as through the subsidy scheme My Cyber-Resilient Business from the Digital Trust Center.”
Dutch people continue to encounter phishing most often
Phishing still remains the most common form of cybercrime (21%) that Dutch people encounter. Almost all forms of cybercrime are known to a majority of people. Only social engineering often lags behind in terms of fame. These are in fact digital chat tricks aimed at obtaining confidential or secret information. For example, a criminal who secretly poses as a helpdesk employee and arouses the curiosity of a victim.
At the companies surveyed, IT managers indicate that they are mainly concerned about the danger of a data breach (24% are very or very concerned about this). ICT managers are also more concerned about online security than before, but they also more often feel that there is little point in reporting/declaring this (25%). A third of large companies now block employees’ access to certain social media to increase digital security.
The full investigation Alert Online 2023 carried out among almost 1,100 Dutch people and more than 1,000 IT employees and business leaders by I&O Research commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, can be read here. AlertOnline is a partner network that focuses on the digital resilience and security of companies, governments and consumers in the Netherlands during the European Cybersecurity Month in October. In the Netherlands, all these partners organize various activities in the field of awareness, for example.
The five basic principles of safe digital entrepreneurship
It Digital Trust Center has the five basic principles of safe digital entrepreneurship drawn up to help entrepreneurs set up basic security. Entrepreneurs who follow these basic principles increase their resilience against cyber risks that can disrupt business operations. The basic principles are: identify vulnerabilities, choose safe settings, perform updates, limit access and prevent viruses and others malware.