The Dutch security services consider it “highly likely” that the recent hack of police officer data was carried out by another country, justice minister David van Weel has told MPs in a briefing.

He did not give details about which country is thought to be behind the hack, in which “work related” information about almost all 65,000 police officers was stolen.

“The chief of police and I take the police hack extremely seriously. The police and security services are doing everything possible to protect police staff and prevent further damage,” Van Weel said.

Van Weel also told MPs that the hackers also got away with data about judges and public prosecutors. Answering questions in parliament ,Van Weel admitted the hackers also obtained “contact information from permanent partners”, but added the number of people affected is limited.

On Friday it emerged that hackers had gained access to names, departments and phone numbers of all Dutch police officers. Private information was not said to be compromised in most cases.

The stolen information has not turned up anywhere yet, but the incident has caused much unrest among officers, particularly among those involved in covert operations.

The AIVD and MIVD have warned for some time about the increase in “offensive cyber activities” by a number of countries.

Van Weel said no more information about the hack would be made public until the investigation had been completed.