Business

ASML employees will stage a walk-out on 3 March to protest against the company’s plan to cut 1,700 jobs. Trade unions are organising the action to challenge the necessity of the redundancies and demand better protection for the workforce.

Odido would not say whether the stolen data contained sensitive information about victims of domestic violence or stalking. “No statements can be made about...

The Netherlands has begun testing GPT-NL, a home-grown artificial intelligence model built to safeguard digital sovereignty. Backed by a €13.5 million government investment, the project aims to provide a secure alternative to foreign AI platforms for Dutch organisations. By using local news archives and forensic expertise, the model is designed to uphold European values and strict privacy standards.

Dutch police have launched a major investigation after hackers stole the personal data of 6 million Odido customers. Authorities are praising the telecom company's refusal to pay a ransom and are warning the public to stay alert for identity fraud. The case highlights the growing risks of sophisticated phishing attacks following large-scale data breaches.

Telecom provider Odido has refused to negotiate with hackers following a massive data breach affecting over six million accounts. Despite threats from the ShinyHunters group to leak sensitive customer details daily, the company is following government advice to reject all ransom demands.

Philips has reached a settlement in the United States following a long-running lawsuit involving a ventilator that allegedly caught fire five years ago, causing a patient to suffer burns. Although Philips denies all liability and maintains that the fire was caused by an external factor, the healthcare technology firm opted to settle the case for an undisclosed sum to avoid the escalating costs of US litigation. A company spokesperson described the situation as deeply unfortunate but stressed that this private dispute is entirely separate from the significant legal challenges Philips has faced since 2021 regarding its major recall of sleep apnoea devices.

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has green-lit the acquisition of Solvinity—the IT provider behind the technical operation of DigiD—by the American firm Kyndryl, despite significant political and expert concerns regarding digital sovereignty and data security. While the ACM concluded that the takeover poses no threat to market competition, it acknowledged that public sector anxieties over the Netherlands' digital autonomy remain high. Because the US government can legally intervene in American corporations operating abroad, the deal is now under intense scrutiny by the Bureau for Economic Security (BTI), which is conducting a separate investigation to determine whether the acquisition presents a genuine risk to national security.

The Dutch Central Bank is pushing for financial firms to decouple from foreign IT providers to protect against geopolitical volatility. Director Steven Maijoor believes that while total independence is unlikely, shifting to European cloud services is essential for long-term security.