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In
the previous century, mining flourished in the south of Dutch province of
Limburg. Incidentally, this activity began around the year 1100, when the monks
of the Rolduc Abbey in Kerkrade were already digging in the ground. From the
17th century , things became a bit more serious, and in 1902 the Dutch
State Mines were established. I remember two striking points from my youth: a
large, pitch-black mound in the landscape when we drove on the highway to
Heerlen and the Lange Jan (“Long John”), the 135-metre-tall (443 ft) chimney of
the power station that belonged to a mine, in the center of that same town. In
1973, the government closed the mines. In Landgraaf, several street names still
remind us of that time: Koempel (Miner), Pungel (Bundled Clothes), Houwer
(Mason), Zeverij (Sievery), Mijnlamp (Miner’s Lamp), Galerij (Gallery), Aan de
Schacht (At the Shaft) and more.
Perhaps
it is this history that makes it somewhat difficult for me to grasp the term
undermining. After all, those mine shafts are already underground, what else
could be under them? On the other hand, there is a beautiful metaphor in it.
Because undermining indicates the intertwining of the underworld and the straight
world, or criminality and legality. Things happen in the underworld that cannot
stand the light of day, and in the mine shafts it was also dark.
But
what exactly is this undermining? The government website does not provide a
very specific definition either: “Criminals use legal companies and services
for illegal activities. As a result, standards blur and the feeling of safety
and liveability decreases. This effect is also called undermining.” If you
click through, it becomes a lot clearer. It’s about influencing and suppressing
of, for example, members of parliament, civil servants and “innocent citizens”
(as if the other two are always guilty…). Serious violence can be used, “even
to the point of liquidations and explosions in residential areas”.
Examples
shed some more light on what it is all about when legal companies are involved
in criminal activities: banks are used to launder criminal assets, drug and
human trafficking takes place via ports and airports, and an electrician is
needed to set up a cannabis farm. Civil servants are pressured or paid to pass
on information. This may involve the address details of someone with whom they
still have a bone to pick. This brings us to the jurisdiction of the Internal
Investigations Department: an investigative service that falls directly
under the Public Prosecution Service. Tracking down and investigating possible
criminal behaviour by civil servants is one of their most important tasks.
Our
intranet has a mandatory e-learning course on the topic of undermining. Using
compelling videos, it makes clear how insidious undermining works: a concerned
acquaintance notices that you are a bit short of money, lends you a few
thousand euros and then urges you to return the favor, leveraging moral
obligation. Once you get caught up in that, there’s no easy way out. The e-learning
course was impressive.
What
is a pity, however, is that according to the same course there are no less than
five different reporting points: four internal ones plus 112 (911 and the
likes) in case of acute danger. "How well do you know the different
reporting points to turn to?" Well, you know, if I ever happen stumble
upon a case of possible undermining, then I will find out where I can go. It
seems a bit pointless to me to learn by heart which counter I should go to in a
specific situation.
Criminals
do not distinguish well between what is theirs and what is of others. That is
the distinction between mine and thine. Which takes me back to that coal mine
of old.
There will be no Security (b)log next week.
And in the big bad world…
- phishing tests are pointless. [DUTCH]
- you’ll have to wait a bit longer for your new watch to arrive.
- ransomware's modus operandi shifts from encryption to extortion.
- British intelligence agencies offer to protect all schools in that country from ransomware.
- Twitter/X will no longer use EU user data to train its AI.
- Generative AI requires a different approach to cybersecurity. [DUTCH]
- the Dutch government is currently making full use of AI (but AI is not the same as generative AI). [DUTCH]
- AI chatbots see things you don't – and that's dangerous.
- banning ladders is not a good measure against burglaries. [DUTCH]
- Some Americans are circumventing the ban on Kaspersky 's malware scanner.
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