20-08-2009

Chapter Name: The Hague (The Netherlands) By: Air Cdre RNLAF retd. Ir. Gerrit Schoonderbeek

Summary of Meeting:

Afcea Chapter The Hague organized its summer meeting on 20 August 2009 at the Netherlands Defense Academy in The Hague. Topic of the day was GOVCERT.NL: “the Computer Emergency Response Team for the Dutch Government”.

Chapter President Rear Admiral LH (ret) Willem Voogt welcomed Afcea members and gave a special welcome to members of the NIDV who also attended this meeting. He then introduced Mrs. Elly van den Heuvel, General Manager of GOVCERT.NL, who introduced her organization. She started with a short movie (a commercial of a Dutch Insurance company) that clearly showed the need for a Computer Emergency Response Team.

GOVCERT.NL is the Computer Emergency Response Team for the Dutch Government since June 2002 and it supports the government in preventing and dealing with ICT-related security incidents. The main tasks of GOVCERT.NL are:
   * To co-ordinate: It acts as the central emergency point dealing with ICT-related security incidents,
      such as computer viruses, hacking and vulnerabilities in applications and hardware.
   * To inform: It provides the right information to appropriate parties, at the right moment.
   * To support: It assists government officials in preventing security incidents and, if necessary, responding appropriately.

GOVCERT.NL focuses on three main areas: prevention, knowledge exchange and incident handling and for this the strength of the organization is 17 people.

The next speaker, Mr. Eelco Stofbergen, Senior Advisor at GOVCERT.NL, discussed trends in Cybercrime. As a reference he used the recently published document: “Trend Report / 2009” (see also www.govcert.nl/trends). This report gives a good insight in the latest trends and figures of cybercrime and cyber security in the Netherlands.

The 10 most relevant trends are:
   * Internet Security continues to be a point of major concern
   * Weaknesses in the basic structure of the internet make the infrastructure vulnerable
   * Vulnerable software continues to be the Achilles’ heel of information security
   * With the gradual movement of software applications from the PC to the Web, the threat also shifts, but exponentially
   * Aging of cryptography is underestimated
   * The end-user is still vulnerable
   * Loss of personal information on the internet is a structural problem
   * “Hack-tivism” has become a fixed part of ideological conflicts
   * The tracing of and the fight against cybercrime score important successes
   * Intensive (international) co-operation leads to better results

Mr. Stofbergen also provided the audience (end-users) with some recommendations:
   * Make sure the operating system, the application software and also the network equipment is up-to-date
   * Use up-to-date virus scanners and a personal firewall
   * Be aware of the “on-line” risks and ask yourself always whether emails, hyperlinks or websites are to be trusted

As last part of the meeting Mr. Aart Jochem (Manager Knowledge Center) and Mr. Stofbergen demonstrated some of the capabilities of hostile Botnets.

The meeting was concluded with the traditional lunch.

Definition of used acronyms:
GOVCERT.NL = the Computer Emergency Response Team for the Dutch Government
NL = the Netherlands
Ret = retired
NIDV = Netherlands Industries for Defense and Security Organization
ICT = Information and Communications Technology
PC = Personal Computer

Guest Speaker(s):

Speaker’s Full Name	Position	Rank	Organization
Elly van den Heuvel	General Manager	Civilian	GOVCERT.NL
Eelco Stofbergen	Senior Advisor	Civilian	GOVCERT.NL
Aart Jochem	Manager Knowledge Center	Civilian	GOVCERT.NL

Photograph #1:

Rear Admiral LH (ret) Willem Voogt,
President Afcea Chapter The Hague,
presents a Certificate-of-Appreciation to
Mrs. Elly van den Heuvel
General Manager of GOVCERT.NL
for her presentation on:
the Government Computer Emergency Response Team
of the Netherlands

Position	Full Name	Rank	Branch of Service/Position	Organization
Left	Willem Voogt	Rear Adm LH (ret)	RNLN	President Chapter The Hague
Right	Elly van den Heuvel	Civilian	General Manager	GOVCERT.NL

Photograph #2:

For his presentation on Trends in Cybercrime
Mr. Eelco Stofbergen
Senior Advisor at GOVCERT.NL
receives a Certificate-of-Appreciation from
Rear Admiral LH (ret) Willem Voogt,
President Afcea Chapter The Hague

Position	Full Name	Rank	Branch of Service/Position	Organization
Left	Willem Voogt	Rear Adm LH (ret)	RNLN	President Chapter The Hague
Right	Eelco Stofbergen	Civilian	Senior Advisor	GOVCERT.NL

Photograph #3:

Chapter The Hague President,
Rear Admiral LH (ret) Willem Voogt,
hands a token of Appreciation to
Mr. Aart Jochem
Manager Knowledge Center at GOVCERT.NL
for his demonstration of the capabilities of Botnets

Position	Full Name	Rank	Branch of Service/Position	Organization
Left	Willem Voogt	Rear Adm LH (ret)	RNLN	President Chapter The Hague
Right	Aart Jochem	Civilian	Manager Knowledge Center	GOVCERT.NL

Photograph #4:

Part of the audience during presentations of GOVCERT.NL

Photograph #5:

The interested audience during presentations of GOVCERT.NL