News item |: 03-10-2023 |: 09:23
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM), the police, the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), Cyberveilig Nederland and various private parties in the cyber security industry* signed the Melissa Agreement today. Melissa is a collaboration between these public and private parties to combat ransomware attacks. The shared goal is to make the Netherlands an unattractive target for ransomware criminals.
Ransomware is ransomware that cybercriminals use to encrypt the data of individuals or organizations so that it can no longer be accessed. Sensitive information is often stolen as well. Only after paying the ransom will the person regain access to the data.
The first results of the partnership
Partnership means that the parties exchange information with each other on a structured basis and more frequently exchange and discuss current developments. Covenant Melissa the legal, organizational and technical agreements of this partnership are defined. The partnership has already started in 2021 and has previously led to successful operations such as Deadbolt, Genesis Market and most recently Qakbot. Results were also achieved in the tactical area, such as generating and sharing statistics on, for example, ransomware attacks, published Exfiltration v3.0 and Ransomware programs, and best practices.
Disruption of society
Ransomware attacks can disrupt our society. companies close, hospitals can no longer provide care, important personal data is stolen from municipalities or other organizations. This stolen data can be sold or used for other forms of (cyber) crime, such as identity theft. In addition, our national security may be at risk if vital systems are at risk of failure. This includes access to drinking water, electricity, internet and payment transactions, which are essential to the daily lives of most people in the Netherlands. This means that many people and organizations can become victims, and the social impact of ransomware attacks is huge.
Vulnerability of organizations
Many organizations believe that they are not the target of ransomware attacks, for example, because their data will not be of interest to criminals. The opposite is true: without good digital security, everyone is vulnerable. Therefore, it is critical for our society that we join forces to fight this serious form of crime in a more targeted manner, increasing the likelihood of cybercriminals being caught and reducing the impact on victims.
Prevention is better than cure
Systems need to be properly secured to prevent successful ransomware attacks. In addition to detection, such as network monitoring, it helps to install a good antivirus program. A good disaster recovery plan and software updates can also often prevent or limit a lot of suffering. The NCSC website provides information on how to be proactive and what to do to limit the effects of an attack. When people or organizations fall victim to ransomware, it’s always helpful to report the incident to the police as soon as possible. Reporting helps to limit damage as much as possible, prevent new victims and identify perpetrators. How to file a report and what to do next can be found at Politie.nl.
Partnership expansion
The agreement is a starting point for further expansion of operational cooperation between public-private parties on a structural basis. This is done on the basis of one common vision to work towards a digitally secure Netherlands, where the parties look out for each other’s interests. All parties are working hard on new products, knowledge sharing, more joint operations and ransomware/cybercrime publications for the benefit of Dutch resilience.
*various private parties
- Kennedy Van der Laan NV
- Computer
- Data expert
- Deloitte
- Fox-IT
- Respondents:
- NFIR:
- Northern channel
- Tessorion
- Trellix: