AFP, THE HAGUE, Netherlands

Russian hackers last year targeted a Dutch public facility in the first such an attack on the lowlands country’s infrastructure, its military intelligence services said on Monday.

The Netherlands remained an “interesting target country” for Moscow due to its ongoing support for Ukraine, its Hague-based international organizations, high-tech industries and harbors such as Rotterdam, the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) said in its yearly report.

Last year, the MIVD “saw a Russian hacker group carry out a cyberattack against the digital control system of a public facility in the Netherlands,” MIVD Director Vice Admiral Peter Reesink said in the 52-page report.

Photo: EPA

“As far as known, this is the first time that such a sabotage attack has been carried out against such a digital control system in the Netherlands,” Reesink said.

The MIVD did not name the public facility, adding that “ultimately the attack caused no damage.”

It warned that various Russian units were mapping the infrastructure of the North Sea, and were carrying out underwater activities that “indicated espionage and preparatory actions for disruptions and sabotage.”

“Think, for example, of Internet cables, drinking water and energy supplies,” Reesink said.

A former Dutch defense minister already warned in 2018 — almost four years before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — that it was locked in a “cyberwar” with Moscow.

Ank Bijleveld’s words came in the wake of an alleged hacking attempt outside the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Hague.

Four GRU military intelligence officials were expelled from the Netherlands as a result.

Back then, Russia dismissed the hacking scandal as “disinformation” and accusations that it has orchestrated a string of global cyberattacks as “spy mania”.

Since Moscow’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of its neighbor, the Netherlands has supplied a number of F-16 jets to Kyiv, as well as a Patriot missile air defense system.

Last week, Dutch Minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans announced that 150 million euros (US$172 million) have been allocated for Ukraine’s air defense systems.