Dutch Defense Secretary Robin Brickmans has finished accusing the Chinese government and pirates affiliated with it after the high frequency of cyber attacks last year against Dutch companies and government, according to Reuters.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Shanggarla security meeting in Singapore, Breikmans emphasized that the semiconductor industry is among the main objectives of the Chinese cyber attacks, as it is one of the advanced sectors in the Dutch industries with the increasing Chinese interest in it, adding that the Dutch Military Intelligence Agency sees China the largest sources of cybersecurity.
Breikmans referred to the annual report published by the Dutch Intelligence Agency, which included last year a mention of the Chinese cyber attacks in an attempt to spy on semiconductor industries alongside space industries and marine industries, then Breikmans explained in his interview with Reuters that these activities are still continuing, confirming their presence in the latest version of the report issued during the coming period.
Reuters did not get a response from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but according to the report, Beijing usually denies such accusations related to cyber attacks, confirming its rejection of any kind of military espionage and cyber attacks.
The Dutch government began to accuse its Chinese counterpart for the first time in the past year, as it accused it of the penetration process that occurred to the Dutch military network in 2023, a process that caused the penetration of an internal network used by 50 people to conduct unsuccessful research.
Breikmans added that the issue of cybersecurity has gained increasing importance to the Dutch government in the last period, after the acceleration of Chinese attacks that exploit its economic and political influence to pressure the Dutch government.
In this context, Breikmans boasted that the Dutch government depends on the latest cyber equipment as part of its endeavors to protect the important and pivotal industries of the state, noting that the next step will be to reduce the Dutch accreditation in particular and the European in general on Chinese technologies.