Russian cyberattack in the Netherlands leaves speed cameras offline indefinitely

[midian182]

In brief: Cyberattacks can have devastating impacts not just on targeted entities, but also on the public. However, an incident in the Netherlands is having consequences many drivers will likely appreciate: speed cameras that were taken offline cannot be reactivated.

On July 17, a cyberattack against the Public Prosecution Service of the Netherlands took place, believed to be the work of hackers with links to Russia and China.

According to local reports, dozens of speed cameras were purposely temporarily taken offline after attackers breached the system. But the effects of the attack mean they cannot be brought back online.

The impacted cameras include the standard fixed and average speed cameras, as well as mobile flex speed cameras that are deployed in different locations for set periods.

The affected roads include the Netherlands' A roads, which are essentially highways packed with fast-moving traffic. Cameras on N roads that connect cities and towns are also out of action. The exact positions of the non-functioning devices have not been revealed, for obvious reasons.

The Service's Central Processing Office (CVOM) said that the cameras are sometimes taken offline for reasons such as maintenance and inspections, but being unable to reactivate them is unusual. It emphasized that the cameras themselves were not hacked, but the attack is preventing them from coming back online.

The breached systems contain information about ongoing court cases, police investigations, and employees' personal details. The justice department never revealed what data was accessed by the hackers, if any.

In June, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued an alert about the Citrix NetScaler zero-day vulnerability. It took seven days for the issue to be addressed, with the Public Prosecution Service taking its systems offline on July 17. According to reports, the delay left hackers with at least three weeks of access to the system, though the NCSC says the vulnerabilities were exploited as far back as early May.

One expert said the hack could be related to the MH17 plane incident in which the passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by Russian-backed forces in 2014. Another motive could be related to Dutch military police investigating possible war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Image credit: jonnie turpie

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Russian cyberattack in the Netherlands leaves speed cameras offline indefinitely

 

[Megalomaniac]

If the Russians want to attack the speed cameras in NYC and the cameras in the bus lanes - and shut down the "congestion pricing" cameras... I personally think that would be a very not nice thing to do.

 

[Dreadcthulhu]

Well, I suppose that is one way for the Russians to try to improve their reputation abroad.

 

[dangh]

Well, I suppose that is one way for the Russians to try to improve their reputation abroad.

"We need to improve our reputation abroad!"
"hmm, maybe we will stop killing people then?"
"nah, we like it too much, lets instead disable some radars in Netherlands, people will love us"

 

[m4a4]

Yes... the Russians... how dastardly of these Russians to do the worst thing ever, because they're Russian...

 

[scavengerspc]

Well, I suppose that is one way for the Russians to try to improve their reputation abroad.

I just think they want the rest of the world to be as worthless as their entire society.

 

[VitalyT]

More propaganda garbage, completely non-factual.

Why the hell would Russia give a damn about speed cameras in Netherlands?

The next one will be - my toilet is backing up, those Russian hackers...

Get a life!

 

[yannus]

Well, I suppose that is one way for the Russians to try to improve their reputation abroad.

Who in the world loves speed cameras that do nothing for safety but are a burden on the people ? How can I contact these nice people (if the story's true) to ask them to hack those in the country where I live ?

 

[BogdanR]

More propaganda garbage, completely non-factual.

Why the hell would Russia give a damn about speed cameras in Netherlands?

The next one will be - my toilet is backing up, those Russian hackers...

Get a life!

Perhaps you should actually read the article before getting all defensive?
The hack was against the Public Prosecution Service not on the cameras themselves. It is literally the first sentence of the article if you cared to read.
The cameras are an unforeseen collateral effect where the hack probably affected their software and could not be brought back online so far.
The whole thing might be non factual or it may be fake news, I’m not commenting on that, just on your knee-jerk reaction.

 

[Tantor]

Funny thing. The cameras were not actually hacked. "...the cameras themselves were not hacked, but the attack is preventing them from coming back online."

Translation. The cameras were taken offline for maintenance. The tech's don't know how to turn them back on. So they blame Russia.

Look at Nordstream II. Western 'pundits' blame Russia for destroying their own $20 billion piping system which was bringing in enormous revenue - LOL. But everyone knows Biden and the West destroyed Nordstream II to crush Russian gas revenue. That stupid plan failed miserably. So they're creating secondary sanctions to keep India and BRICS from selling Russian gas. This is not rocket science. 2+2.

Mr. Rob Thuron piles on more anti-Russian canards.

"One expert said the hack could be related to the MH17 plane incident in which the passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by Russian-backed forces in 2014. Another motive could be related to Dutch military police investigating possible war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine."

What do MH17 and Dutch investigations have to do with speeding cameras?

Oh yeah... Russia ran out of washing machine chips for their attack shovels, so they raided the Dutch speeding cameras.

 

[WaphleStomp]

When WW3 happens, the decisive advantage the Russians will have over the West will be their ability to affect speed cameras.

 

[brucek]

Why the hell would Russia give a damn about speed cameras in Netherlands?

If the raw input data could translate to realtime location information on a sizable chunk of the population, not to mention pattern data of who tends to be where at what time of day, then this sort of access could be interesting to any intelligence organization (or law enforcement.)

I highly doubt the primary intent was to bring them offline and keep them offline. That part feels like a bug in the hack, or a response from the local authorities.

 

[WaphleStomp]

I highly doubt the primary intent was to bring them offline and keep them offline. That part feels like a bug in the hack, or a response from the local authorities.

They did the same what I woulda done, only they did it by accident. Problem is now they know their weakness and they're sortin' it out, they're fixin' it.
—Basher

 

[CapNemo72]

Ah the usual:
We fu** up the things but do not want to be blamed or have no clue how that happened, so blame it on some hackers, Russian or Chinese ideally.

Makes sense

 

[mbk34]

Perhaps you should actually read the article before getting all defensive?
The hack was against the Public Prosecution Service not on the cameras themselves.

Still, the question remains, why would Russia want to attack the Public Prosecution Service?

 

[BogdanR]

Still, the question remains, why would Russia want to attack the Public Prosecution Service?

The suspected reasons are in the last paragraph.
Additionally, for lots of personal information on lots of people for further use? Access to other sensitive data?

 

[candle86]

Time to hack a Russian military hospital and delete all charts.

 

[RudyBob]

I guess the Russkies don't want the Dutch to know how fast their T-34's are rolling into Rotterdam

 

[Liranan]

The absolute ignorance of those who live behind the Iron Curtain that is western media is astounding.

Instead of thinking qui bono you lot immediately believe anything the main stream liars spew out. I assume that you are still waiting for Iraq's WMD's to turn up.

As the great seer Orwell said:
Ignorance is strength.

 

[umeng2002]

Russia doing gods work on this one.

 

[ZedRM]

These kinds of attacks are happening everywhere. It's getting crazy.

 

[Underdog]

You ain't seen nuthin' yet. Wait till everything is controlled by A.I.

 

[ZedRM]

You ain't seen nuthin' yet. Wait till everything is controlled by A.I.

That is a nightmare overload..

 

[Alfatawi Mendel]

An Israeli colonel was arrested in the Netherlands last week. It could be entirely co-incidental but...

 

[AlexIL]

Few more of hacks like that and Europe will be meeting Russians with flowers while the rest of the world be envying the lucky free from cameras Europeans eagerly awaiting the freeing army. Who could possibly imagine WWII end days comeback in this style. More taxes, less love. Nobody likes thieves but everyone loves Robin Hood.