The National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC), the Digital Trust Centre (DTC) and the Cyber Security Incident Response Team for Digital Service Providers (CSIRT-DSP) are joining forces. The services will be integrated into a single organisation in the coming years, which will serve as a central expertise centre and information hub.
This was recently announced by ministers Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius (Justice and Security) and Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate). The three government departments share the same goals, but target different audiences in the process. For instance, the NCSC primarily informs and supports vital organisations, such as energy companies, telecom providers and banks. The DTC supports the business community in general, while CSIRT-DSP supports the central government itself.
Operating as NCSC from 2026
The NCSC and CSIRT-DSP will integrate with each other in 2024. The integration of the NCSC and DTC will follow in 2026. From 2026, the three organisations will operate as a central centre of expertise under the name NCSC.
Minister Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius (Justice and Security): "We are increasingly living our lives online, and criminals have realised this too. In addition, the current situation in the world, with a war on Europe's eastern flank, also makes this more topical than ever: our digital resilience to ward off cyber attacks needs to rise. It is therefore important to combat fragmentation in tackling this between organisations. That is why there will soon be one organisation, under the umbrella of the NCSC, working on this. This way, we combine forces in terms of knowledge, information sharing and expertise when things do go wrong."
Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate): "We all notice how important digital resilience is. For example, if the internet fails due to a cyber-attack, as a result shops are empty or even industrial production fails. Digital devices and systems are everywhere. This offers opportunities for our companies and convenience for consumers, but with that, our digital resilience must also improve. The central government also has a stake in this. With knowledge sharing, modern legislation and expertise in large-scale incidents. That is why it is good that we create clarity with one organisation and contribute to our digital resilience."
Using available capacity more efficiently and effectively
The integration is intended, among other things, to make more efficient and effective use of available cybersecurity capacity. The integrated organisation will serve as a national centre of expertise, information hub and national Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT).
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source photo: Pixabay / pixelcreatures
