Cyber attacks on the rise: 'More than ever'

 

 

Cyber attack Dramatic increase in hacker attacks: “Extremely sophisticated attackers” 

 

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Adrian Ericson 

 

Published: Very recently  

  

 

The expert on the increase: "More than it has ever been has been" Photo: Gustav Sjöholm/TT  

 

NEWS  

 

All the country's unemployment insurance funds are closed and Norrköping has gone into emergency mode after cyberattacks.  

 

Attacks against Swedish targets have increased dramatically, according to security expert Marcus Murray. 

 

- There are extremely sophisticated attackers on the other side, he says.  

 

The Armed Forces. The A funds in Sweden. Municipality of Norrköping. In just a few days, everyone has been subjected to cyber attacks.  

 

In Norrköping, East Gotland, the municipality has gone into staff mode.  

 

- We have had a data breach, someone has gotten into our systems, says Acting Municipal Director Eva Selander. 

 

Now they are preparing for a crisis. 

 

- It is a very serious situation. We work with two tracks. Partly to get the IT environment fully restored, and partly to look at how we can deliver operations completely without IT support, says Eva Selander.  

 

How long it will take to investigate and deal with the incident is still unclear. The police have been called in.  

 

- There is a big risk that the breach will affect our operations, says Eva Selander.  

 

"Attack from an external threat actor"  

 

At the IT supplier Softronic, a so-called "war room" has been set up to deal with an "attack from an external threat actor" on Friday. Softronic then chose to shut down all network traffic. 

 

- We are working around the clock right now to investigate and to work together with industry experts to get the system function up for our customers again as quickly as possible, says the company's CEO Charlotte Eriksson to TV4.  

 

Softronic delivers IT services to roughly 600 customers. The customer list includes a number of well-known Swedish companies and authorities - including the country's unemployment insurance funds.  

 

Due to a "cyber security-related incident", the cash registers have been closed since last Friday. This means that members cannot log in and submit time sheets - which is required to receive unemployment benefits.  

 

Even the payments, which are made weekly, are uncertain. 

 

- We are working to secure future payments as best we can. That work is now underway. In this situation, we cannot say more than that, says Tomas Eriksson, head of office at the umbrella organization Sweden's a-kassar.  

 

 

Cyber security expert Marcus Murray. Photo: Ali Lorestani/TT  

 

The expert: "More than ever" 

 

 Cyber attacks are becoming more common. Last year, Coop's checkout systems were knocked out after a cyber attack by the Russian hacker group Revil. Five years ago, the international hacker attack ”Cloud Hopper” was carried out against companies that manage IT services for others.  

 

Marcus Murray, founder of the cyber security company Truesec, states that attacks against Sweden have increased sharply in a short time. 

 

- It is more than it has ever been, he says.  

 

A significant part of the attacks can be traced to Russia. When Ukraine was invaded, a temporary decrease was noticed. 

 

- But in August it changed completely. Then the focus returned to European companies, including Sweden. We have seen a constant rise, almost a doubling every month, says Marcus Murray.  

 

Russia and China  

 

That cyber-attacks force vital organizations to shut down their digital operations shows that camp is serious, according to Murray.  

 

- What is important to understand is that Swedish organizations that are affected are victims of crime. There are extremely sophisticated attackers on the other side. So it is not realistic to ask that no one should be affected by a data breach. 

 

Which actors can carry out serious cyber attacks? 

 

- Right now we see states, where Russia and China have the greatest ability, working via their intelligence organizations. But they also use criminal groups that normally carry out ransomware attacks but now also run political cases for states.