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

  • Singapore plans changes to transit system
    June 13, 2018
    Singapore has the third-highest population density in the world and the numbers are continuing to grow. The government knows that transit is vital: David Crawford investigates the city state’s Smart Nation strategy. Transport is the most important of the five domains identified as the pillars of Singapore's far-reaching Smart Nation strategy, launched in November 2014 by prime minister Lee Hsien Loong with the aim of reaching fulfilment by 2024. Roads account for 12% of the island republic's 719km2 land ar
    Read More
  • Cooperative systems and privacy not mutually exclusive
    February 1, 2012
    Are co-operative systems and personal privacy mutually exclusive? Not necessarily, says Neil Hoose. But the more advanced the application, the greater the concession of privacy may have to become. ITS Stockholm in 2009 and the Cooperative Mobility Showcase event which took place alongside Intertraffic in Amsterdam in March this year both featured live, on-street demonstrations of safety and driver information applications that used Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications,
    Read More
  • Cooperative systems and privacy not mutually exclusive
    February 6, 2012
    Are co-operative systems and personal privacy mutually exclusive? Not necessarily, says Neil Hoose. But the more advanced the application, the greater the concession of privacy may have to become
    Read More
  • Improve and increase mass transit systems to minimise congestion
    January 24, 2012
    Rather looking to solve congestion by spreading the load, perhaps we need to look at concentrating it. Michael L. Sena writes. We humans were made to walk and run at embarrassingly slow speeds by comparison with other, more fleet-footed organisms. The sea is not our natural habitat and we were definitely not designed to fly unaided. Nevertheless, humankind has evolved a method of living during the past century that is dependent on transporting its members over very long distances during relatively short per
    Read More

Highlighted Content