Today, the reality might be much less sexy but way more effective.
They have offices, vacations, and chit chats in the coffee room.
What they uncovered was a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) malware developed for FortiGate devices.
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Within a few months across 2022 and 2023, it gained access to over 20,000 units worldwide.
During this zero-day period, 14,000 devices were compromised.
Targets included dozens of Western governments, diplomatic institutions, and companies in the defence industry.
Despite the potential widespread impact, news coverage of the attack has been slim.
Zeemans concern is that this lack of awareness and oversight could result in damaging consequences on a global level.
In a way, ransomware has helped pushcybersecurityup on the priority list for companies, Zeeman believes.
What you see is that people started investing in cybersecurity because theyre afraid of ransomware.
But theres also another trend which is way more advanced.
They create their own programs and even conduct anti-forensics, all so they can avoid detection.
This means once theyre in, theyre in for the long haul.
In recent years, the Netherlands has found itself a small country amongst giants.
A David between two Goliaths.
But guarding against cyber espionage is costly.
The only way to know youve been breached is to periodically check for it, Zeeman says.
This is essential to protect critical infrastructure, like water systems, banking, hospitals, ports, etc.
but also key industries.
Usually the companies Zeeman has worked with have an NDA in place.
In his view, this might create too much backlash.
Europe is home to three of the five largest producers: NXP, Infineon, and STMicroelectronics.
Whats more, state actors are also looking at the Netherlands for its high-quality digital networks and infrastructure.
Appearing as the grieving widow, she evades detection by serving the murder weapon to the police.
