Book about cybersecurity by ‘Nieuwsuur expert’ from trade after finding plagiarism

The book about cybersecurity by former minister Willem Vermeend and ‘hacker’ Rian van Rijbroek is off the market. The publisher decided to do so after various media found plagiarism in the book. Van Rijbroek caused a stir this week with a performance in the TV program Nieuwsuur.

The book The World of Cybersecurity and Cybercrime was published in December, but attracted attention this week after author Van Rijbroek said in an item about DDO attacks on banks in the TV program Nieuwsuur that the attacks were, among other things, a prelude to a hack involving ATMs. would eject bills. Nieuwsuur published a fact check on Wednesday evening, in which there appeared to be little to no evidence for Van Rijbroek’s spectacular claims.

Various media have gone through the book in the aftermath of that incident and a scan by NOS revealed many passages copied without citing the source. Nieuwsuur reports that Van Rijbroek and her co-author, former minister Willem Vermeend, had copied parts from five Wikipedia articles, copied paragraphs from two NRC articles and also copied an explanation of computer intrusion from ICT lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet. Initially, the publisher said that footnotes in the book had been omitted, but later, according to Nieuwsuur, he decided to take the book off the market after all.