Swedish IT sector is helping the government make election systems more secure and reduce external influence. The security measures assembled and implemented around the 2018 election in Sweden were devised in consultation with leading actors within Sweden’s private IT sector. The primary role of the IT suppliers was to advise government panels, which included the national security service (Säpo), the National Police Board (Rikspolisstyrelsen), the National Civil Contingencies Agency and the National Election Authority. Säpo was at the head of a government-commissioned election taskforce that organised an IT-based protective shield around the voting process and implemented measures to minimise hostile external inference.
The main threats come by way of malicious attacks against IT-voting infrastructure from cyber space, or the potential risk of foreign-based entities launching propaganda and misinformation wars against political parties or individual politicians.
The level of security expertise mobilised to protect the trustworthiness of the election result in Sweden ranged from a direct collaborative input from the Swedish Defence Force’s Cyber Defence Centre to creating consulting roles for leading companies operating within Sweden’s cyber security domain.
Full Article: IT sector advises Swedish government on elections and voting system.
