Social Challenges
Cybersecurity is an essential prerequisite for successful digitalisation. The absence of basic measures means that the government is lagging in terms of digital resilience, making it a promising target for malicious actors (state and criminal). It is the government’s social responsibility to safely capitalise on the economic and social opportunities provided by digitalisation and protect our security and public values at the same time. As part of this wide-ranging social responsibility, the government must set a good example and handle citizens’ data securely.
Results achieved by 2023
- Work is already underway with local and regional authorities to prepare legislation and regulations, appropriate monitoring, and reduce the cybersecurity audit burden imposed on local and regional authorities by the government.
- The new European Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) imposes a statutory obligation for information security, reporting of high-impact incidents and a supervisory regime for essential and important providers. Government-wide sets of standards stimulate the secure procurement of ICT products and services. (The Ministry of Justice and Security (JenV) is responsible for the EU process and the implementation thereof in Dutch legislation. The Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) is responsible for the government sector.)
- Strengthening digital resilience is one of the road maps to be implemented in the Government I-Strategy 2022–2025 (in Dutch). The International Cyber Strategy (ICS) 2023–2028 has been presented to the House of Representatives.
- Publication of the proposed Cyber Resilience Act, containing security requirements for the entire life cycle and ICT supply chain.
Goals & indicators
| Goals | Indicators |
|---|---|
| 1. The Netherlands can safely capitalise on the opportunities presented by digitalisation while protecting our security and public values. |
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| 2. Authorities and government agencies meet the prescribed security requirements applicable to them. |
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| 3. Authorities and government agencies only use and purchase secure ICT products and services from the market. |
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| 4. Governments use a uniform domain name extension. Citizens have a point of contact for questions about the authenticity of a government site/email/app. |
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| 5. Governments are practised in fending off cyber incidents and receive support. |
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What are our forthcoming actions?
To find out the goals we are setting for the upcoming year to strengthen cybersecurity, see priority 2.5 actions.
