The government wants to a few times per year ‘hackdagen’ to organise, in which hackers holes in the security of public services may be detected. The plan is there, but the government has not yet decided whether the hackdagen has really come.
If the plan goes through, it will in any case not to the large clock to be hung, said minister Spies of Internal Affairs, Thursday during a debate in the Second Chamber, writes news agency Novum. On this hackdagen would ‘whizzkids of universities’ attempts to poke holes in the security of public services. That can then be plugged. It is unclear whether also ethical hackers are invited who are not affiliated with universities.
The plan is a response to the lack of expertise in the government in the field of digital security. Now it happens regularly that hackers are the government on basic security flaws. As it turned out recently that a system for videoconferencing with the ministry of Defence was secured with a fabriekswachtwoord and accessible via the internet. Also Scada systems for the operation of bridges, locks, and water systems are vulnerable, has recently been shown.