Russia has attempted to carry out destructive cyberattacks against Sweden and several other countries. This emerged at a press briefing on 10 November, where Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin and John Billow, head of the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC), outlined the current cyber threat picture.
The government's presentation describes a heightened threat picture in which foreign powers are targeting systems that control electricity, water and heating. At the same time, artificial intelligence is said to be making it possible to identify and exploit security vulnerabilities more quickly.
The NCSC states that several thousand vulnerable devices in Sweden are exposed to the internet, more than in any other Nordic country. During October and November, cyberattacks on cooling systems have affected operations in Sweden, France and six further European countries.
According to the presentation, the affected operations had been warned before the attacks took place. The NCSC has since coordinated efforts nationally and within the EU, while CERT-SE (Sweden's Computer Emergency Response Team) has provided support to those affected.