Top 5 biggest cyberattacks in the Netherlands. Were you affected? You can still do something about it.

One danger of all breaches and cyberattacks is that they can affect you long after they happen. Out of the blue, you may start receiving phishing emails as scammers attempt to gather more information about you, a year later, for example. Or experience a chain of suspicious events in your online accounts, bank accounts could point out to identity theft. In other words, there is no expiration date for a breach. Once your personal data is exposed, there is always a risk of someone using it at some point.

Here are some of the biggest cyber attacks in The Netherlands:

You'll notice that most of them took place in 2021 and before. It's not due to a lack of more recent incidents, but because it takes an average of 277 days—about 9 months—to identify and contain a breach, according to a study by IBM. Also, some of them are never publicized.

1. Coronavirus track-and-trace program leaks

In 2021, a massive data leak was reported by Dutch Health Authorities, affecting the medical data of thousands of people. The personal information of many people who participated in the Netherlands' coronavirus track-and-trace program was exposed in two separate leaks. (Source: Reuters)

2. Data for 7.3 million Dutch car owners sold on hacking forum

In March 2021, RDC, a Dutch company that provides garage and maintenance services to car owners, confirmed a data breach after the personal and vehicle details of millions of clients were posted for sale on a well-known cybercrime forum. (Source: The Record)

3. 4,000 data guests leaked on Booking.com

Booking.com received a fine of €475,000 in March 2021 for missing the deadline to communicate details of a breach to the regulator. The cyber crooks accessed sensitive information such as credit card details, and CVV codes of customers who booked a holiday trip via Booking dot com. (Source: Cybersecurity-Insiders)

4. Hacker stole patient files from Dutch mental health clinics

Patients of Dutch mental health clinics were warned that their personal records had fallen into the hands of hackers following a security breach at an online portal that "guaranteed" their privacy.

Netherlands-based technology company Nedap disclosed on Oct. 25, 2022 the hacking of its Carenzorgt.nl portal, used by thousands of healthcare institutions throughout the country to share digital health records and personal data. (Source: Bitdefender)

5. ‘Ethical hacker’ among those arrested in Dutch ransomware investigation

In February 2023, Dutch police arrested three men in connection with ransomware attacks and the blackmailing of thousands of companies.

Tens of millions of pieces of personal information are thought to have been stolen by the hackers. Stolen sensitive information is said to have included not just individuals' names, addresses, and telephone numbers, but also dates of birth, bank account numbers, credit cards, passwords, license plate details, citizen service numbers, and passport information. (Source: Bitdefender)

What can you do about past breaches?

If you suspect you may be affected by these incidents, you can still take action today to minimize risks.

1. Find out the breaches you were involved in

With Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection, you can instantly check if your data was leaked in a recent (or old) breach. It only needs your email address and phone number to crawl data leaked from breaches looking for your information.

You get a full list of organizations that revealed your details and what personal information was exposed.

2. See what information was disclosed and how risky it is for you.

Besides usernames and passwords, your online accounts pack a lot more info than you may realize. Service providers often ask for your physical address, credit card details and personal preferences to deliver your order. Data breaches spill this information into places malicious hackers can access, such as public repositories or Dark Web forums.

Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection scans millions of websites and monitors the underground networks to check if your information was leaked on the Dark Web. You can see your digital footprint at a glance.

3. Take steps to minimize risks.

Each warning from Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection includes the type of information that was exposed in a data breach. In addition, your online dashboard recommends steps to take for each account involved in a data breach.