The Dutch Ministry of Finance has confirmed that part of its internal systems were breached in a cyberattack discovered last week.
According to officials, the ministry was alerted by a third party on March 19. An investigation is still ongoing, but early findings show that the attack affected systems used by some employees.
The ministry said its IT security team detected unauthorized access to several systems linked to key policy operations on March 19. After the alert, authorities quickly launched an investigation and blocked access to the affected systems. This disruption has impacted the work of a portion of the staff.
Despite the breach, the ministry clarified that critical systems handling tax collection, customs operations, and income-related benefits were not affected. These services support millions of citizens and businesses, including processing over 9.5 million income tax returns each year.
Officials reassured the public that services provided by the Tax and Customs Administration, Customs, and Benefits departments are continuing without interruption. They also said updates will be shared as more details become available.
So far, the ministry has not revealed how many employees were impacted or whether any sensitive data was stolen. No hacking group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
This incident follows earlier cybersecurity concerns in the Netherlands. In September 2024, the national police experienced a breach believed to involve a state-backed actor, which exposed work-related contact details of officers.
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More recently, in February, a 40-year-old man was arrested after attempting to extort the police using confidential documents he had obtained due to a sharing mistake.
