Daryna Antoniuk reports:
A Dutch appeals court sentenced a 44-year-old man to seven years in prison for hacking a major port company in Belgium to help smuggle cocaine into the Netherlands.
The Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled Friday that the man played a central technical role in a criminal network that exploited port computer systems in 2020 and 2021, allowing traffickers to move drugs through Europe’s logistics hubs without detection.
Prosecutors said the operation enabled the import of 210 kilograms of cocaine via the Port of Rotterdam, one of Europe’s largest ports and a key gateway for global trade.
According to court documents, the defendant persuaded a port employee at a container terminal in Antwerp to plug a USB stick loaded with malware into a work computer. The malicious software created a digital backdoor, giving the hacker remote access to internal port systems used to manage containers, gates and personnel access.
Read more at The Record.