Eighty percent of Dutch government websites are inadequately defended against cyber-criminals.
Webhosting company Networking4all, which carries out research on internet security, reports that it recently tested all 684 Dutch government websites and found 580 of them to have some degree of insecurity.

Networking4all claims it is all too easy for cyber-criminals to hack the websites and get hold of citizens' personal details, or even to steal a person’s entire identity. The company says this goes far beyond simple credit card fraud.
 

The findings come only a week after Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin launched a government campaign encouraging the public to take greater care to safeguard personal and financial information when using the internet. In a press release, Networking4all’s technical director says he is appalled that the government should be lecturing the public on internet security when so many of its own websites are poorly protected.

The company says that among the websites with security flaws that are open to exploitation by cyber-criminals are those of the tax service, the defence ministry, the interior ministry, the immigration service and the national insurance agency SVB.