Netherlands Threat Landscape Report 2026

Key Insights from the Netherlands’ Cyber Threat Landscape

• Data Theft Dominates Dark Web Activity: Data breach and compromise accounts for 62.09% of Dark Web threat categories and 45.05% of threat types.
• Data and Access Threats Drive Most Activity: Data breach and compromise combined with unauthorized access and credentials accounts for over 71% of Dark Web threat categories.
• Public Administration Faces the Highest Dark Web Exposure: Public Administration leads Dark Web targeting at 17.61%, reflecting the value of citizen data and government information.
• Retail Trade Is Also Highly Exposed: Retail Trade follows closely at 16.20%, driven by payment card data, customer records, and transactional information.
• Information Services Complete the Top Three: Information accounts for 12.32% of Dark Web threats, making data-rich digital service providers a major target.
• Ransomware Follows a Different Targeting Pattern: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, Manufacturing, and Construction each account for 14.14% of ransomware activity.
• Ransomware Is Highly Fragmented: LockBit leads at 14.7%, followed by PLAY at 8.9% and Qilin at 5.3%, while 71.1% comes from other groups.
• Phishing Shows an Espionage-Driven Pattern: National Security and International Affairs accounts for 24.10% of phishing activity, linking phishing to government and defense-related intelligence collection.
• Cryptocurrency and NFT Platforms Face Strong Phishing Pressure: Cryptocurrency and NFT ranks second in phishing targeting at 17.26%, reflecting attackers’ focus on irreversible digital asset theft.
• Automated Phishing Campaigns Are Common: “My Framer Site” accounts for 28.23% of phishing page titles, showing large-scale, low-effort phishing page creation.
• HTTPS Is No Longer a Reliable Trust Signal: 94.5% of phishing sites targeting the Netherlands use HTTPS, making the browser padlock unreliable as a safety indicator.

Why This Report Matters

The Netherlands’ threat landscape shows that different attack types follow different targeting logic. Dark Web activity focuses on data-rich sectors such as public administration, retail, information services, and finance, where stolen records and credentials can be monetized. Ransomware shifts toward professional services, manufacturing, and construction, where operational downtime creates pressure to pay.

Phishing follows another pattern, concentrating on national security, cryptocurrency, information services, telecommunications, and banking. This means Dutch organizations need defenses that address data exposure, access sales, ransomware resilience, phishing detection, and espionage-linked activity rather than relying on one broad cyber risk model.

For public-sector entities, retailers, digital service providers, manufacturers, financial institutions, and telecom organizations, early visibility into leaked data, exposed credentials, unauthorized access listings, ransomware activity, and HTTPS-enabled phishing campaigns is critical.

Take Action Now

• Dark Web Monitoring: Detect leaked databases, exposed credentials, unauthorized access listings, and sensitive records tied to Dutch organizations.
• Ransomware Intelligence: Track LockBit, PLAY, Qilin, and smaller ransomware groups targeting the Netherlands.
• Phishing Detection & Response: Identify national security, cryptocurrency, telecommunications, banking, Framer-based, Le Monde-themed, and HTTPS-enabled phishing campaigns.
• Access Security: Strengthen MFA, monitor privileged accounts, rotate exposed credentials, and reduce credential-based attack paths.
• Operational Resilience: Prioritize ransomware readiness for professional services, manufacturing, construction, and other downtime-sensitive sectors.