Background information

Due to the COVID-19 crisis a lot of companies have chosen to let their employees work from home. Typically, the cybersecurity standards that are ensured on the work floor are not met at home. Employees may work with personal devices or unsecure network connections. These security risks which arise from remote working require additional attention.

Content of measure

The government has set up various information resources aimed at employees to promote cyber security while working from home. Several of these initiatives are:

• A list of important points of attention for remote working by the Digital Trust Centre, a government organisation aimed at promoting safe digital entrepreneurship. They have also created a portal page which links to the other mentioned resources.
• A factsheet about COVID-19 phishing mails by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate.
• A factsheet which advises some measures which can be taken when remote working facilities stop working by the National Cyber Security Center, a government organisation.
• An information page about teleworking by the Telecoms Agency. These measures are part of the ongoing national cyber security strategy

Use of measure

There is not information available on this yet.

Contents

• Telework
• Work organisation

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Public support service providers	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

These measures are part of the national cybersecurity agenda. Employee organisations VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland have been actively involved in the development of this agenda. One of its key points is the public-private approach to cyber security which is also something that the employee organisations believe should be the main consideration. One of the ways in which this has been realised is through the creation of the Digital Trust Center, employee organisations are co-responsible for the policy direction of this institute. The Digital Trust Center is active on the issue of cybersecurity during times of Covid-19.

Employee organisations are actively involved in the development of cybersecurity policies, their role in these specific measures is unknown. They have however also provided resources to their members on how to deal with cybersecurity during remote working. For example, VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland have published an article on the risks and solutions to cybercrime while remote working.

Views and reactions

Social partners have not shared any opinions on these specific measures. With regard to general cyber security policy, the employee organisations VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland share the position that private parties are primarily responsible to address their own cybersecurity vulnerabilities. They also believe that policy should be developed by means of public-private cooperation.

Sources

• 14 May 2020: Factsheet Covid-19-phishing (www.digitaltrustcenter.nl)
• 14 May 2020: Thuiswerken door het coronavirus? Drie dingen waar je als bedrijf op moet letten., (www.agentschaptelecom.nl)
• 24 November 2020: 6 aandachtspunten voor thuiswerken in 2021 (www.digitaltrustcenter.nl)