The number of cyber attacks on Dutch government websites and systems doubled over the past two years, according to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Figures from the NCSC requested by the Volkskrant show that reported attacks doubled to 293 between May 2014 and May 2015.

The attackers are mainly criminal organisations and foreign governments looking for valuable information, the Volkskrant reports.

The NCSC figures also show that over the past few months there has been an increase in the threat from ransomware, which restricts access to the system it infects in some way, and demands a ransom for the restriction to be removed.