(Illustration: Getty Creatives)
getty
The minister for digital economy and sovereignty of The Netherlands Willemijn Aerdts joined several global security experts in calling on energy and industrials firms to step up their cybersecurity investment and preparedness in the face of rising threats at a major European event.
Describing it as a necessary opportunity carrying with an economic potential worth billions, Aerdts told the ONE Conference 2026 – a global cybersecurity event in The Hague, Netherlands – that there is no time like the present “to work together to protect the world’s digital ecosystem.”
“Our digital services are interlinking in long digital chains while the world is facing new and unknown cybersecurity threats. Therefore, the time is ‘now’ to work together to protect our digital ecosystem,” she added.
Aerdts noted that if weaknesses in organizational cybersecurity can be exploited, “someone, somewhere with bad intentions” will most certainly be taking advantage of that.
“So, to succeed in preventing that, we need to invite everyone to the solutions room because digitalization and artificial intelligence [that have amplified cyber threats] are vital for innovation, economic growth, security and our prosperity.”
“Naturally, I want The Netherlands to take the lead in the digital world. But together with our European partners [and beyond], we will invest in infrastructure, technology and resilience. We must make an effort to shift to products and services that are strong by design where cybersecurity is inbuilt.”
The minister’s call was echoed by several industry experts at the conference. More so, given the spate of attacks on Europe’s energy and utilities infrastructure as anxieties mount in the wake of tensions between the West and Russia, geopolitical rivalries with China, and the fallout of the Iran War.
“Investment, vigilance, strict risk mitigation frameworks and a clear communication plan in the event of a breach must all be part of the wider effort to meet this ever rising challenge of blended [cyber] threats and blurred lines,” said Matthijs van Amelsfort, director of the National Cyber Security Centre, The Netherlands or “NCSC-NL”.
Energy Infrastructure In The Firing Line
Recent research by the likes of DeepStrike and TrustWave point to rising cyber attacks on the energy and utilities sector over the past three years.
While the majority of these breaches only hit IT environments, as opposed to the highly critical operational technology or “OT” infrastructure such as digital plant control systems, Dutch security agencies believe the threat to OT has intensified quite significantly and rapidly over the past few years.
Minister for digital economy and sovereignty of The Netherlands Willemijn Aerdts speaks at the ONE Conference in The Hague, October 5, 2026.
Holland Park Media
The world’s energy infrastructure remains a major stress point for cybersecurity experts given its critical nature. There has been no shortage of infamous breaches either.
Saudi Aramco – the world’s largest oil company by production, reserves and market capitalization – has seen two known high-profile attacks in 2012 and 2021. The Colonial Pipeline hack of 2021 is another infamous incident that caused considerable alarm in the sector.
These rising threats and vulnerabilities extend to all parts of the energy mix. At the ONE Conference, research published by The Hague-based Internet Intelligence company Modat and NCSC-NL identified 8,547 internet-facing systems in European solar and wind farms that “should not conventionally be reachable from the internet.”
The researchers mapped operating wind and solar farms in 40 countries in Europe, and found vulnerable systems in 35 of them, including exposed admin interfaces and control panels, Soufian El Yadmani, co-founder of Modat, and Bouke van Laethem, strategic adviser to NCSC-NL told conference attendees.
A Necessary Multibillion Dollar Investment Drive
While the opportunity exists, a poll of 25 experts at The ONE Conference offered a range of valuations on how big the industrial cybersecurity market might be, placing its size anywhere between €80 billion and €120 billion ($89 billion and $135 billion). Predictions for an end-of-decade a compound annual growth rate or “CAGR” ranged between 8% and 10%.
But both tallying and forecasting issues also arise from the fact that many corporates still classify cybersecurity spending as IT spending or use other accounting descriptions, often unwilling to openly acknowledge what they are both spending as well as looking to spend on it over the near-term.
Tackling cyber crime or industrial cyber breaches is also not just down to capital investment but has several moving parts including international cooperation and willingness to go that extra mile of vigilance, said Miguel De Bruycker, director general of the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium.
“We must strengthen EU-US cooperation in the face of new and rising threats based on mutual respect and a shared desire to secure cyberspace. At a national level, we must aspire to have one cybersecurity authority or agency per region that can act fast instead of several overlapping authorities as AI misuse fuels cybercrime and erodes trust with each passing day,” he added.
Building Cybersecurity Skills And Centers Of Excellence
Nurturing a talent pipeline of cybersecurity experts is also mission critical. Minister Aerdts, van Amelsfort and De Bruycker all alluded to it at the ONE Conference. The event itself had a talent hub bringing together multiple stakeholders in academia, training institutes and hiring managers from a range of organizations.
Stakeholders in Northern Europe, the home of several industrial heartlands, are putting a deep emphasis on skills and establishing Centers of Excellence. It certainly helps NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence is in the region in Estonia.
The North European Cybersecurity Cluster (Finland) framed as regional partnership, private funded centers of excellence, e.g. Trusec (Sweden) and Nexova (Belgium), and academic centers of excellence across regional universities are also a huge part of the equation.
Meanwhile, regional industrial heartlands are taking direct action to nurture and retain cybersecurity talent. The Hague is offering “subsidised leadership training” for professionals starting in November.
This training for cybersecurity professionals will be fully funded by the City and is therefore free for participants. It will focus on areas including recognising and discussing workload pressures, providing feedback that supports professional development, and acknowledging progress and achievements.
“The Hague wants to be an international leader in cybersecurity. That means investing in technology and new talent, but also in the people who already work every day to keep us digitally secure. We want talented cybersecurity professionals not only to come and work here, but also to want to stay,” says Richard de Mos, deputy mayor of The Hague.
The Hague also launched “cybersecurity blueprint” for civil society earlier this month available to cities around the world, according to Jeroen van den Berg, programme manager Cyber Secure The Hague.
“The idea is to count on a pool of volunteering cyber security experts to help community organizations, charities and clubs build resilience as they often lack the necessary means to do so,” he added.
All of this forms part of a perpetual marathon to keep cyber attackers at bay. As the cast of bad actors continues to rise, many hope will the world’s cybersecurity investment and preparedness.
Leave a comment