Vulnerabilities force the Chamber of Commerce to shut down the site and services

This happened after a warning from the National Cyber ​​Security Center (NCSC) that holidays could be used to invade IT systems. Cybercriminals often move in on Christmas when the entire IT world is at home.

Monday morning back online

The website and other applications, including the Chamber of Commerce application’s trade registry, will be backed up on Monday morning from 7:30 a.m. “KVK manages the basic registry, with the data we must protect,” it is now read on the website kvk.nl. “In addition, we are part of various chains with third parties, who cannot always provide 100% certainty due to the Apache Log4j vulnerability. Combined with the warning from the NCSC, the Chamber of Commerce believes it is reasonable to provide digital services at least during the season Christmas. Temporarily offline.”

A public warning about the vulnerability was received on December 10. “We immediately carried out all security checks,” a Chamber of Commerce spokesperson told RTL Nieuws. “Following the warning from the NCSC last week, we have decided to shut down the site.” The spokesman stressed that this decision was “taken as a precautionary measure” and that there is no doubt that there is a “state of panic.”

What is Log4j?

Log4j is software used to keep so-called “logs” of web servers. A lot of information is stored in such a log, such as error messages. This allows administrators to detect problems or suspicious behavior.

This week it emerged that there is a major security vulnerability in Log4j. If somehow a piece of Java code ends up in a register, that code is executed by the web server.

Such a piece of code can contain malware that a hacker can, for example, gain access to the entire server or spread malware.

Minecraft hack using username

There are several ways in which malicious code can enter the registry. In the popular game Minecraft, for example, usernames registered in the vulnerable Log4j were found. Anyone who sets such a token as a username can easily hack the server.

As long as companies do not update their software, they remain vulnerable. That’s why major digital service providers Google and Cloudflare have quickly taken preventive measures.

These companies form a kind of “channel” between users and websites. By taking measures already in this channel, many attacks can be prevented.