Rian van Rijbroek

"Cybersecurity expert"  Rian van Rijbroek (Propagndist?, Spook?, deep state operative?)
Born	1971
Nationality	Dutch?
Interests	Cyber security
Interest of	Nieuwsuur
A mysterious woman who famously appeared live in January 2018 on Dutch state TV claiming to be a hacker who saw Russian, Iranian and North Korean code present in the increasing amount of Denial-of-service attacks on Dutch banks and institutions. Her nearly empty résumé and accusations raised eyebrows of dozens of security experts.

Rian van Rijbroek was presented to TV viewers as a cyber security expert and a hacker working for an intelligence agency and multiple governments.

She suddenly started appearing in Dutch media for the promotion of her book Cybersecurity and Cybercrime early 2018 which she made along with former State Secretary for Finance and Minister of Social Affairs Willem Vermeend. Her book was later pulled amid widespread claims of plagiarism. It included blaming groups of hackers from Russia, Iran and North Korea and proposed unexpcted solutions to cybercrime which caused nationwide outrage with security experts.

Career

Van Rijbroek has registered multiple companies in the Dutch chamber of commerce starting from 2004, under several aliases. Her first known company MaMoMo (short for MakeMoreMoney) was listed as specialized in "asset management".

Spooky connections

Further research by internet and IT-blogger Marcel van den Berg up until the end of January 2018 mostly found co-owned, non-promoted companies with Willem Vermeend and a Zoominfo database listing Van Rijbroek working for the London office of Swedish cybersecurity company Cognosec (subsidiary of the better known UC Group), something denied by another subsidiary of Cognosec at the London office (as the London office of Cognosec didn't answer calls).

Interviews in BNR Newsradio and De Telegraaf presented her working for 30 years as professional hacker under numerous covers, one being modelling Van Rijbroek is seen in two videos apparently recorded for the "Versace fashion show 2012" in Dubai (a city where Cognosec has an office located).

Nieuwsuur appearance

She appeared live on Dutch current affairs program Nieuwsuur on the 25th of January 2018 in a very peculiar 5 minute segment regarding the latest Denial-of-service attack on Dutch banks. Van Rijbroek reported of codes present from Russia, Iran and North Korea in the attacks on Dutch banks, government institutions and other sites. Citing an "intelligence agency that shared those details with her today", she proclaimed these groups to be testing the security-systems before letting "ATMs spit money as seen in the US" (a technique known as Jackpotting, which she didn't mention and although known in the US, but requiring physical proximity to the ATM and not a denial-of-service attack). As solution she ironically proposed a switch to 'blockchain' (a central mechanism in all cryptocurrencies) and the use of external networks for citizens (VPNs) when online banking and stop using mobile banking applications altogether.

Following many cybersecurity-experts voicing their frustration about the segment, the NOS released a statement 1 week later in which all her statements were invalidated by IT-professionals while apologizing for "causing confusion with the speculations van Rijbroek made", with the Assistant-Editor remarking "she told different things instead of what was rehearsed with her". An 18 year old was arrested and charged for the attacks on the 1st of February..

Plagiarism

The book (which claimed among other things that Edward Snowden was suspected of leading the Shadow Brokers) was pulled from the shelves after numerous instances of plagiarism were discovered. Vermeend and van Rijbroek were revealed to be notable around January 2018 for their appearance at a few tech-conventions with "low-quality lectures", getting banned on one after one day. The Chamber of Commence started promoting their book around the same time, before removing all references after the Nieuwsuur appearance. Van Rijbroek has disappeared from the media since March 2018.

Unanswered questions

These 3 questions remain unanswered.

1. Why exactly was she allowed to appear on state television without anyone fact-checking her book when it was already 1 month on the market?
2. Why didn't a former Minister and State Secretary run a background check on someone with these accusations but instead introduced her multiple times as a former NSA officer?
3. What is the real occupation of Rian van Rijbroek?

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.