DigiD outage disrupts critical Dutch services

The disruption, caused by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, severely impacted access to tax filings, municipal services, and medical portals.

DigiD is a critical tool for accessing a broad range of government and private services, including health insurers, paying traffic fines, and using medical care provider portals. The outage also affected MijnOverheid, the government information portal that allows citizens to access government correspondence and personal records.

Thousands report issues as disruptions spread

Within the first hour of the outage, over a thousand individuals reported problems accessing DigiD on the downtime monitoring website AlleStoringen. The Belastingdienst, the country’s Tax and Customs Office, also received several thousand complaints about access issues, exacerbated by the fact that Monday was the first full working day for annual income tax return filings and digital payroll submissions.

The affected systems included:

• BSNk (Burger Service Nummer-koppelregister): links citizen service numbers.

• DigiD Machtigen: manages authorisation for DigiD users.

• Digipoort Services: including Digipoort Financieel, Digipoort SBR Belastingdienst, and Digipoort Sociaal en Financieel

• Machtigen en Mededelen: handles authorisation and notification services.
  
  

Investigation and mitigation efforts underway

Logius, the Dutch government's digital service provider, is investigating the incident and working to mitigate the DDoS attacks. The organisation reported that DigiD, DigiD Machtigen, BSNk, Digipoort, and MijnOverheid were only partially available as authorities worked to restore full functionality.

This outage is not an isolated incident. Six weeks ago, a similar disruption was also linked to a DDoS attack, leading to network overload. Additionally, the latest incident followed a weekend of heavy traffic that had already strained access to the Belastingdienst’s tax filing system for 2024 income declarations.

The repeated DDoS attacks against critical digital infrastructure highlight vulnerabilities in the Netherlands' public service systems. As reliance on digital platforms for government, healthcare, and financial services continues to grow, ensuring robust cybersecurity measures becomes increasingly crucial.

Authorities have not yet provided a timeline for when all affected services will be fully restored. Residents are advised to monitor official channels for updates and expect potential delays in accessing critical online services.