Swedish Transport Agency attempts to minimise damage done by IT outsourcing deal

The Swedish government is attempting to minimise the damage done by an IT outsourcing deal that could have exposed classified information to foreign powers. Swedish news website The Local reports that the country’s security police Säpo investigated the Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen) after information about all vehicles in the country, including police and military, was made available to IT workers in the Czech Republic who had not gone through the usual security clearance checks when the agen
July 28, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The Swedish government is attempting to minimise the damage done by an IT outsourcing deal that could have exposed classified information to foreign powers.


Swedish news website The Local reports that the country’s security police Säpo investigated the 2124 Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen) after information about all vehicles in the country, including police and military, was made available to IT workers in the Czech Republic who had not gone through the usual security clearance checks when the agency outsourced its IT maintenance to 62 IBM in 2015. It also claims that firewalls and communications were meanwhile maintained by a company in Serbia.

Speaking at a press conference this week, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven called the development ‘serious’ and said the government plans to tighten existing outsourcing rules.

It is not known whether the security glitch caused any major damage. The question of whether or not Sweden's national security was harmed is censored in the Säpo report.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Automating seat belt compliance a priority for road safety
    February 2, 2012
    Finland's VTT is developing a mobile, automated seatbelt compliance system. Here, the organisation's Matti Kutila discusses progress
    Read More
  • Gearing up for IntelliDrive cooperative traffic management
    February 1, 2012
    Beginning in the first quarter of 2010 it became evident that the IntelliDrivesm programme direction had been reestablished, by the USDOT's ITS Joint Program Office (JPO), after being adrift for a few years. The programme was now moving toward a deployment future and with a much broader stakeholder involvement than it had exhibited previously. By today not only is it evident that the programme was reestablished with a renewed emphasis on deployment, it is also apparent that it is moving along at a faster pa
    Read More
  • Developing ‘next generation’ traffic control centre technology
    July 4, 2012
    The Rijkswaterstaat and Highways Agency have joined forces to investigate what the market can do to realise an idealistic vision for traffic control centre technology. Jon Masters reports One particular seminar session of the Intertraffic show in Amsterdam in March was notably over subscribed. So heavy was the press to attend that your author, making his way over late from another appointment, could not get in and found himself craning over other heads locked outside to overhear what was being said. The
    Read More
  • Speeding ambulances through borders
    October 26, 2016
    David Crawford sees hope for stricken patients on the wrong side of the border. In treating patients with heart or stroke conditions, speed is of the essence.
    Read More

Highlighted Content