The Swedish state broadcaster, SVT, has been hit by a series of major denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since Sunday evening. This has resulted in significant disruptions to its various digital services, with attacks continuing on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Adde Granberg, who is the technical director at SVT, stated that the attack had an unprecedented magnitude and also length. He believes it is part of a bigger effort wanting to create a feeling of “uncontrol” that is directed at Sweden. The attacks are now under a full investigation by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, also known as MSB, in the country.
On Tuesday, the Swedish Public Employment Service also experienced significant website disruptions, adding to the country’s ongoing cybersecurity concerns.
It is still currently unclear whether these two separate incidents are actually connected or who is responsible for the coordinated attacks. The malicious internet traffic appears to originate from multiple different countries, indicating a very sophisticated and widespread cyber operation. Måns Jonasson, an expert at the Internet Foundation in Sweden, agrees with this assessment of the current and very serious situation.
He said the purpose could be either to cause chaos within the country or to directly test Sweden’s overall national preparedness.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told reporters that the recent cyberattacks against the state broadcaster SVT are not unique. He confirmed that other essential services, including various banks and the secure Bank-ID electronic identification system, have also been affected. The Prime Minister stated that the country of Sweden is exposed to enormously extensive cyberattacks all of the time. He did not want to point fingers at any specific country but noted that Swedish security services have previously identified certain nations. These nations, Russia, China, and Iran, are known to be systematically involved in such security-threatening activities against the country of Sweden.
In a written comment to the state broadcaster SVT, Sweden’s security service, Säpo, said they have long pointed this out. They stated that foreign powers are constantly looking for new vulnerabilities to obtain information or conduct security-threatening activities. They often achieve their goals through various different means, including the use of these widespread and very disruptive cyberattacks. A NATO official, commenting on the situation to the state broadcaster, said the alliance takes such threats against member nations very seriously. The official investigation into the origin and full scope of these recent cyberattacks against Sweden is now actively underway.
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