The Netherlands is the number one country in Europe and fourth in the world for cyber criminals, according to figures published on Tuesday by security company Symantec, RTL news reports.

Dutch servers process a great deal of spam, phishing, botnets and other digital threats, Symantec reports. Globally, only the US, China and India process more malware.

The Netherlands is popular with cyber criminals because its internet network works so well. The connections are fast and reliable, there are a lot of people online and Amsterdam has one of the largest internet junctions in the world.

The fact that so much cyber crime is routed through the Netherlands does not mean all the criminals are Dutch, however. The country is mainly used by criminals around the world as one step in an attack in order to make detection difficult, Symantec says.

Globally, Symantec registered 317 million new malware programmes in 2014.

The latest threat report is published in the week that a top-level meeting to discuss cyber attacks is being held in The Hague.