A Decade of Cyber Turmoil: How the Dutch Caribbean Became a Target for Digital Attacks

On a warm Caribbean morning, most people expect their first struggles of the day to be traffic jams, long lines at government counters, or the occasional power cut. But in the last decade, residents of Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten have faced something less visible, but far more disruptive: cyberattacks.

From ransomware that froze entire ministries to coordinated attacks that crippled courts and utilities, the Dutch Caribbean has found itself increasingly exposed. These islands may be small, but they sit at the crossroads of international finance, shipping, and tourism — making them both lucrative and vulnerable.

This is the story of ten years of cyberattacks in the dutch caribbean region: what happened, how governments responded, and why cybersecurity can no longer be treated as an afterthought.

2018: Sint Maarten’s Government Brought to a Halt

The wake-up call came in 2018 when a cyberattack suddenly shut down Sint Maarten’s central government. For a full week, IT systems stayed offline, services stopped, and citizens waited in limbo while departments scrambled to respond.

Soualiga Newsday and The Record reported that the incident exposed just how fragile the island’s IT backbone was. Officials downplayed the event as ‘technical disruptions,’ but insiders suggested something more malicious.

For many residents, the attack marked the first time they realized cyber threats weren’t just distant stories from the United States or Europe—they could shut down a Caribbean government too.

2019: Curaçao’s Ministry of Government Held Hostage

Just over a year later, Curaçao faced its own crisis. In late 2019, the Ministry of Government, Planning & Services (BPD) reported that its systems had been “held hostage.”

Local coverage from the Curaçao Chronicle described how ransomware had locked employees out of critical databases. The Antilliaans Dagblad highlighted the chaos this caused: requests for permits, salary records, and planning documents were suddenly inaccessible.

This was one of the first confirmed ransomware attacks on a government ministry in the region. Unlike Sint Maarten’s 2018 case, there was no pretending this was just a technical glitch. The reality of being a target was now undeniable.

2021: The Central Bank Under Siege

Few institutions carry as much weight in the Dutch Caribbean as the Centrale Bank van Curaçao & Sint Maarten (CBCS). In September 2021, that authority admitted something alarming: its systems had been breached.

The bank quickly disconnected its network, insisting that its core payment systems were not compromised. Reports in the Curaçao Chronicle and the bank’s own press releases were careful, measured, and focused on calming the public.

Still, the fact that the region’s financial regulator had to go offline because of a cyber incident was unprecedented. For international investors and businesses, it raised questions about trust. For local citizens, it was another reminder that no institution — not even a central bank — is immune.

2022: Sint Maarten’s Power and Water Utility Crippled

In March 2022, hackers struck one of Sint Maarten’s most essential services: NV GEBE, the island’s power and water utility. According to The Daily Herald, the BlackByte ransomware group encrypted customer records and business data. For weeks, GEBE struggled to issue bills, manage accounts, and communicate with its customers.

The attack dragged on and showed just how devastating ransomware can be to critical infrastructure. Beyond the technical chaos, it eroded trust. Many customers began to wonder: if their power bills were delayed, what other personal data might have been exposed?

2023: A Year of Disruptions

April – TelEm’s DDoS Nightmare

In April 2023, Sint Maarten’s telecom provider TelEm Group became the victim of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. As reported by SMN News and Soualiga Newsday, internet and mobile services were unstable across the island.

Unlike ransomware, DDoS doesn’t lock files or steal data — it simply floods systems with traffic until they collapse. For TelEm’s customers, that distinction hardly mattered. The result was the same: dropped calls, sluggish internet, and frustration.

December – Aqualectra in Curaçao

Later that same year, Curaçao’s own utility company, Aqualectra, faced its turn in the spotlight. Local papers including the Curaçao Chronicle reported that ransomware had infiltrated its systems, forcing customer service to go offline.

Hackers published outdated customer data as proof of access. While Aqualectra insisted no ransom was paid, the attack sparked public debate. Should utilities admit weakness? Should they negotiate with criminals? The conversation was no longer theoretical.

2025: The Breaking Point

By mid-2025, the Dutch Caribbean entered what many now call its summer of cyberattacks.

July – Curaçao’s Tax Authority Knocked Offline

In July, Curaçao’s Tax & Customs Administration became the victim of ransomware. Cybernews and The Record reported how services were disrupted, DMV processes were delayed, and the call center went silent. Dutch experts were flown in to help recovery.

Tax season is stressful enough. Add ransomware to the mix, and it becomes chaos. Citizens complained of being unable to file forms, process payments, or get answers from officials.

July – Courts Under Attack

At the same time, a virus struck the Joint Court of Justice, which serves Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and the BES islands. The attack crippled its email systems, and the court warned that any messages sent between July 23 and 28 might never have reached their destination, according to NL Times and The Record.

Trials had to be postponed. Lawyers scrambled. In a system already under pressure, this was a logistical disaster.

August – Aruba’s Parliament Breached

Then came Aruba. The Parliament admitted that hackers compromised one of its official email accounts and used it to send phishing messages. In response, officials warned the public to watch out for emails that appeared official.

While smaller in scale, this incident struck at the heart of democratic trust. If citizens can’t trust emails from their own parliament, what message does that send?

A Pattern Emerges

Looking back at this decade, a pattern is hard to ignore. Attacks have shifted from one-off disruptions to a steady drumbeat of incidents targeting governments, utilities, financial institutions, and telecom providers.

The motives vary:

• Ransomware groups seeking money.
• Hacktivists or opportunists aiming for disruption.
• Criminal syndicates probing weak infrastructure.

But the outcome is the same: citizens lose trust, services grind to a halt, and small governments struggle to keep up.

Why the Dutch Caribbean?

Some may wonder: why would global cybercriminals bother with islands of 150,000 people?

The answer lies in three factors:

1. Economic importance — The islands are small, but they’re financial hubs, with banking, shipping, and tourism at their core.
2. Limited defenses — Smaller governments often lack the cybersecurity budgets of larger nations.
3. Connectivity — Though remote geographically, these islands are tightly connected to Dutch, European, and American systems. That makes them attractive gateways.

What Comes Next

These incidents are not just cautionary tales. They are lessons. If the Dutch Caribbean wants to secure its digital future, it must:

• Invest in stronger defenses, beyond basic firewalls and antivirus.
• Share intelligence regionally, so Aruba learns from Curaçao, and Sint Maarten learns from Bonaire.
• Train not just IT staff, but every government worker and utility employee to recognize phishing, report anomalies, and treat data as critical infrastructure.

The summer of 2025 will not be the last wave of cyberattacks. But it can be the moment when the region decided to take cybersecurity seriously — not as a technical afterthought, but as a pillar of governance and public safety.

Conclusion

From government ministries to courts and utilities, the Dutch Caribbean has spent the past decade learning a painful truth: no system is too small to be a target.

Every ransomware note, every outage, and every breach has carried the same message: cybercrime doesn’t care about geography. It cares about opportunity. Want to know what to do to prevent being caught by ransomware? Check our article on how to arm yourself against it!

The question for Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten now is simple: will the next decade be one of repeated disruption, or of resilience?

Sources

Sources

• Soualiga Newsday https://www.soualiganewsday.com/local-news/123-cyber-incident.html
• The Record https://therecord.media/aruba-curacao-governments-cyberattacks
• Curaçao Chronicle https://curacaochronicle.com/post/aqualectra-cyberattack
• Antilliaans Dagblad https://antilliaansdagblad.com/news/curacao-government-cyberattack
• Centrale Bank van Curaçao & Sint Maarten https://www.cbsx.cw/press/pressrelease-cybersecurity
• The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/gebe-hit-by-ransomware
• SMN News https://smn-news.com/telem-ddos-attack
• NL Times https://nltimes.nl/2025/08/02/ransomware-attacks-cripple-government-services-across-dutch-caribbean-islands
• Cybernews https://cybernews.com/cybercrime/tax-authority-curacao-back-ransomware-attack
• Amigoe https://www.amigoe.com/curacao/aqualectra-ransomware

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