Dutch retail group calls for banks to give greater focus to cyber security following internet banking disruption

Last week a number of Dutch banks were subject to 'distributed denial of service' (DDoS) attacks that caused internet banking services at one bank, ING, to be "temporarily unavailable", according to Dutch banking association NVB. It also said that the ability to make payments through PayPal with other banks was also disrupted.

DDoS attacks typically involve hackers using malware-infected computers to bombard systems with such large amounts of traffic that they cease to function.

The NVB said that "the security of internet banking, mobile banking and PayPal are not in question", according to an automated translation of a statement it issued on the incident. However, a retail group in the Netherlands said that banks and the Dutch Government were not focussed enough on cyber security, according to a report on the Dutch News website.

Thuiswinkel.nl, a Dutch online retail group, called on banks to "vigorously work towards securing digital payment and reduce the vulnerability of payments through vital systems", according to an automated translation of a statement it issued. The group also called on the Dutch Government to "guard against (inter) national attacks by hackers and criminals and international research and collaboration".

Wijnand Jongen, director of Thuiswinkel.nl, said that, as well as focusing on "combating terrorism and child pornography", there was also now a need to focus on tackling "major attacks on the infrastructure of our country".

Dutch economic affairs minister Henk Kamp has said that there is to be a "criminal investigation" into the cyber attack, according to the Dutch News report.