HAAGSCH COLLEGE: In the digital trenches (Dutch spoken)

WITH investigative journalist HUIB MODDERKOLK

Tuesday 24 February 2026

Note: This program is presented in Dutch.

What do you need to know about Russian hackers and Chinese spies? How do they operate, and what threat do they pose? In this gripping lecture, Huib Modderkolk takes you to the front line of digital warfare. In The Digital Trenches, Modderkolk shows step by step how the Russians go about infiltrating critical infrastructure and undermining democracy. How they plan influence operations and secretly steal information. But also how the Dutch security services fight back and are by no means powerless—and where Russian actions succeed, but also frequently fall short.

While much attention is focused on an aggressive Russia, China is meanwhile playing a smarter and more subtle game. More in the background, less tangible, and also less well understood.

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  • €23,50
  • Grolsch Zaal
  • 19:30
  • 20:00
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While Europe is understandably preoccupied with Putin’s threat, Xi’s auxiliary forces quietly penetrate Dutch systems. In The Digital Trenches, Modderkolk makes this struggle tangible and shows what is at stake.

Huib Modderkolk is an investigative journalist for de Volkskrant. He is an expert in intelligence services and digital warfare and has written several books, including This Is Something You Really Don’t Want to Know and It Is War, But No One Sees It.

This evening is part of De Week van de Geopolitiek, a series of events organized by the Haagsch College in The Hague focusing on geopolitical issues.

HAAGSCH COLLEGE: In the digital trenches (Dutch spoken)

Tuesday 24 February 2026

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