News item | 12-03-2024 | 13:49
The Senate has approved the Temporary Cyber Operations Act. After this law comes into effect, the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) and the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) can use their existing powers more quickly and effectively against threats from countries that commit cyber attacks against the Netherlands. The bill was submitted by Minister De Jonge (Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations) and Minister Ollongren (Defense).
The Netherlands continuously faces cyber threats from countries such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. These threats are aimed at high-quality technological knowledge, economic gain or damaging vital infrastructure. It is expected that their activities against the Netherlands and Europe will increase significantly in the coming years.
Minister De Jonge: ”The Netherlands has one of the most important internet nodes in the world. This entails the responsibility to make much better use of it for our national security. With the Temporary Cyber Operations Act, we equip our services with the instruments necessary to fulfill their legal mission. In this way we make optimal use of data on the cable and ensure that we better protect the Netherlands against Russian and Chinese hackers, while the safeguards remain at the required level.”
Minister Ollongren: “The Netherlands is continuously under fire in the cyber domain. This law ensures that the use of services is better aligned with the current dynamics of cyber attacks. This way they can work even more effectively for the security of the Netherlands and our allies and for the protection of our soldiers.”
Better response to threats
The Temporary Cyber Operations Act does not introduce any new powers for the services, but ensures that they can use a number of existing powers more effectively. The law provides, among other things, an independent basis for exploration on the cable. This allows the services to provide better and more targeted substantiation of which cables can ultimately contribute to intelligence investigations.
In the field of hacking operations, the law enables the services to better adapt to the dynamics of the cyber domain. This creates more room to monitor offensive hacking operations by opponents more quickly and effectively.
The law also offers the possibility to use bulk datasets for a longer period of time if this is necessary for national security. This is to maintain the existing information position of the services.
Assessment, supervision and appeal
In addition to a more effective use of the powers of the services, the temporary law also improves the way in which the guarantees are designed. The Temporary Act states that prior assessment shifts to binding supervision during the implementation of the authority. This binding supervision is carried out by the Committee for the Supervision of Intelligence and Security Services (CTIVD). With this new authority, the CTIVD can immediately stop an operation and decide that the data acquired must be destroyed. An appeal option has also been introduced to the Council of State. This corrects a flaw in the system of assessment and supervision and places the final interpretation of the legislation where it belongs, with the courts.
Enlarge image
