Sweden leaked confidential data to IBM in outsourcing deal
The historical leak was only made public this week, and involved 'protected identities'


Sweden's government inadvertently leaked details of its citizens, as well as confidential data, in an outsourcing deal with IBM.
The leak occurred when the Swedish Transport Agency outsourced its hardware, networking and applications services to IBM Sweden in 2015, but details of the breach have only now emerged.
IBM, which is not believed to have been at fault, declined to comment.
The agency's then-director general, Maria gren, decided "to deviate" from the Security Act, the Personal Data Act and the Publicity and Privacy Act as well as the authority's own guidelines for information security requirements, the Swedish government said in a Swedish FAQ (the Transport Agency has since issued an English language statement).
That deviation involved choosing not to subject IBM's operations technicians to security background checks, meaning they viewed the data without security clearance.
She left the role in January, and was fined $8,500 for "carelessness with secret information, but without intent".
Her replacement, Jonas Bjelfvenstam, said: "The authority handles crucial information which affects citizens, companies and other authorities, and it is my firm belief that we, in every situation, must comply with the laws and regulations applicable to the authority's work. Nothing else is acceptable. We take the criticism against the Swedish Transport Agency very seriously. And we would also like to make it clear that we have no indications that data was disseminated improperly."
Get the ITPro daily newsletter
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
Swedish prime minister Stefan Lovfen was quoted in the Financial Times as saying: "What happened in the transport agency is a disaster. It is extremely serious. It has exposed both Sweden and Swedish citizens to risk."
Media reports suggested that military vehicle details and information about people in witness protection programmes was among the data. Sweden's government said no military vehicle details were included, though vehicles registered to civilians were. The Transport Agency has also said there is no evidence that the data was leaked beyond IBM's technicians.
It did admit it included those with protected identities, but added: "We have no indications indicating that data was disseminated improperly, so we do not see any direct cause for concern."
Swedish news website The Local reported that IBM administrators in the Czech Republic had full access to the information while firewalls and communications were maintained by a company in Serbia, but the Transport Agency said that all data has remained in Sweden "all the time".
Other reports in the Swedish press, such as an article from Dagens Nyheter, have claimed that information such as databases containing criminal records were available to the IT workers.
The agency estimates that the issue will not be resolved until autumn, when personnel handling the "administration of application management" will have had background checks.
This article was updated on 27 July 2017 with more information from the Transport Agency.
Image source: Bigstock
Zach Marzouk is a former ITPro, CloudPro, and ChannelPro staff writer, covering topics like security, privacy, worker rights, and startups, primarily in the Asia Pacific and the US regions. Zach joined ITPro in 2017 where he was introduced to the world of B2B technology as a junior staff writer, before he returned to Argentina in 2018, working in communications and as a copywriter. In 2021, he made his way back to ITPro as a staff writer during the pandemic, before joining the world of freelance in 2022.
-
Why Microsoft thinks diversity will keep security workers relevant in the age of agentic AI
News Improved AI skills and a greater focus on ensuring agents are secure at point of deployment will be key for staying ahead of attackers
-
Microsoft: get used to working with AI-powered "digital colleagues"
News Tech giant's report suggests we should get ready to work with AI, revealing future trends for the workplace
-
Capita tells pension provider to 'assume' nearly 500,000 customers' data stolen
Capita told the pension provider to “work on the assumption” that data had been stolen
-
Gumtree site code made personal data of users and sellers publicly accessible
News Anyone could scan the website's HTML code to reveal personal information belonging to users of the popular second-hand classified adverts website
-
Pizza chain exposed 100,000 employees' Social Security numbers
News Former and current staff at California Pizza Kitchen potentially burned by hackers
-
83% of critical infrastructure companies have experienced breaches in the last three years
News Survey finds security practices are weak if not non-existent in critical firms
-
Identity Automation launches credential breach monitoring service
News New monitoring solution adds to the firm’s flagship RapidIdentity platform
-
Neiman Marcus data breach hits 4.6 million customers
News The breach took place last year, but details have only now come to light
-
Indiana notifies 750,000 after COVID-19 tracing data accessed
News The state is following up to ensure no information was transferred to bad actors
-
Pearson fined $1 million for downplaying severity of 2018 breach
News The SEC found the London-based firm made “misleading statements and omissions” about the intrusion