Number of Dutch cybersecurity companies quadruples
An analysis of KVK register data found that 962 companies were registered at the beginning of October, compared with 233 in 2021.
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The Dutch cybersecurity sector has grown sharply over five years. At the beginning of October, 962 cybersecurity companies were registered, compared with 233 in the same quarter of 2021, according to an analysis of data from the Chamber of Commerce’s Trade Register.
The figures were published by ANP, based on the KVK Trade Register. According to the analysis, there were just over one hundred companies in this sector at the beginning of 2020. The increase means that the number of registered companies has grown to more than four times its 2021 level.
The companies provide various services. These include advice on data protection and digital security, managing online systems and training employees. Registration does not automatically mean that every company is of the same size or fully dependent on cybersecurity as its main activity.
The figures do not show how demand for digital resilience has developed. According to the National Cyber Security Centre, around 2.4 million companies and organisations in the Netherlands depend on digital systems every day. An incident at one supplier can therefore affect multiple customers and sectors.
Regulation also plays a role. The Cybersecurity Act and the Critical Entities Resilience Act have been in force since August 2026. This legislation may increase demand for specialist advisers, auditors and security services.
Market growth does not mean that the Netherlands has automatically become safer. More providers can make knowledge and capacity available, but organisations must still assess whether a supplier is competent, independent and able to provide long-term support.
The KVK figures are also a count of registered companies, not of turnover, staff or assignments actually carried out. Some companies may be small or offer cybersecurity as a secondary activity. The figures therefore mainly provide an indication of the size of the business landscape.
For customers, the business question is not limited to technical security. Training employees, reporting incidents, checking suppliers and making plans for outages are also part of digital resilience. The registration figures do not show to what extent new threats and stricter expectations for organisations explain the growth.
The development has made cybersecurity a recognisable industry, but the figures reveal little about the distribution of market power, quality or profitability. Additional data would be needed to assess those issues, for example on turnover, staff and incidents.
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The sector figures and the number of organisations dependent on digital systems can be found in the sources used. The text makes clear that these are registrations, not figures for turnover, size or quality.
- confirmed The Netherlands had 962 cybersecurity companies at the beginning of October. — ANP analysis of KVK data, published by NL Times. source
- confirmed There were 233 in the same quarter of 2021. — The same analysis gives this as the comparison figure. source
- confirmed Around 2.4 million Dutch organisations depend on digital systems every day. — Mentioned in reporting citing the NCSC. source
- confirmed The Cybersecurity Act and the Critical Entities Resilience Act have been in force since 15 August 2026. — The Dutch government states the date and the legislation concerned. source
Editor's note
The figures of 962 and 233 come from an ANP analysis of KVK register data. The sources used contain no turnover or quality figures; growth is therefore not equated with better digital security.Sources
- Number of cybersecurity companies in Netherlands skyrocketed in five years — NL Times, op basis van ANP en KVK
- Cybersecuritylandschap in beeld, 2026 — Nationaal Coördinator Terrorismebestrijding en Veiligheid
- Cyberbeveiligingswet en Wet weerbaarheid kritieke entiteiten vanaf 15 augustus 2026 van kracht — Rijksoverheid
More on this in Dutch media
- De Telegraaf — „cybersecurity kvk”
- de Volkskrant — „cybersecurity kvk”
- NOS — „cybersecurity kvk”