200 Swedish municipalities impacted by a major cyberattack on IT provider

Miljödata, an IT supplier serving around 80% of Swedish municipalities, experienced a cyberattack that disrupted services in over 200 municipalities, including Skellefteå, Mönsterås and Kalmar. The Swedish Privacy Agency has confirmed receiving around 70 reports of cyber incidents related to the attack. The incident was detected on Saturday 23 August, and has been reported to the police as part of the ongoing investigation.

The government and CERT-SE are closely involved in managing the response, assisting affected parties and coordinating authorities, with CERT-SE offering advice and support to the company and its customers; the national cybersecurity centre is coordinating actions of the authorities concerned. According to Swedish minister for civil defence, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, the government is receiving ongoing information and remains in close contact with authorities.

Police revealed that Miljödata has been the victim of an extortion attempt, with a demand of 1.5 bitcoins. At this time, no ransomware group has publicly claimed responsibility for the attack.