2024-01-25
Uppsala Nya Tidning Invites Peter Hellgren to Discuss Cyberattacks
In the wake of the recent cyberattack in Sweden, the debate on cybersecurity has gained significant traction in the media, addressing a highly relevant and crucial societal issue. Peter Hellgren, CEO and founder of Consid, was approached by Uppsala Nya Tidning (UNT) to share insights on cyberattacks and cybersecurity.
The ransomware attack against a major IT company in the Nordics last weekend impacted over 120 Swedish authorities and several prominent Swedish businesses.
– There is an immense amount of money involved in this. If you don’t pay, you have to manually restore the systems, which is a massive undertaking that also incurs gigantic costs. It will take weeks to sort everything out after the attack, and we haven’t seen the last of the damages yet, commented Peter Hellgren to Uppsala Nya Tidning (UNT).
“At the same time, the only way forward is not to pay.” writes UNT.
– If no money comes in, the attacks will die out, says Peter Hellgren.
In a previously published op-ed, including UNT, Peter Hellgren stressed the need for a higher level of preparedness in society and education to raise awareness among everyone.
– It’s almost always the human factor that allows hacking into a system, an employee who leaked a password somehow, stated Peter Hellgren.
“An intrusion can begin with a type of software planted on a computer or a phone, perhaps by a child of an employee playing an online game,” writes UNT.
– Such software, known as spyware, then lurks for information. If someone logs into a system from the same device, it becomes possible to access and subsequently attack the system, Peter Hellgren explains.
Consid’s CEO urges everyone to be cautious and extremely critical of anything unfamiliar.
– Do not click on anything you are not sure you can trust, advises Peter Hellgren.
“In both the recent attack and the one the Swedish Church faced in November, as well as an attack that previously affected Uppsala University, the traces appear to lead to Russia,” notes UNT.
This revelation doesn’t surprise Consid’s CEO.
– I am not surprised at all. There is an immense amount of money involved, and the groups carrying out the attacks operate like businesses to generate revenue. We know that cyberattacks of this kind were used before the war in Ukraine; it is modern warfare. My conviction is that we will see more of it, says Peter Hellgren.
“The value of this type of extortion is estimated to equate to the world’s third-largest economy by 2025,” reports UNT.
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