An IT attack has hit the Church of Sweden hard.
Now the business has been forced to change – and the funeral work has become more difficult.
– It is very sad that they choose to attack the Church of Sweden in particular, says Alexander Ryman, cemetery director in Alingsås.
At the Church of Sweden’s office in Alingsås, the computer screen is black. The Church of Sweden was hit by an extensive cyberattack on November 22. The attack took place through a so-called extortion virus, where a ransom is required to access the IT system again.
– It felt uncomfortable, says Alexander Ryman, cemetery director in Alingsås.
Everything is filled in manually
Now all work that normally takes place digitally has been forced to be done manually. The burden has become extra heavy for the burial work at the cemetery.
– To keep track of this, we write down the deceased on coffin cards. They are in a system that makes it easy to find everyone buried. Today, they are filled in manually, says Alexander Ryman.
Normally, a scanner is used to read a QR code on the incoming chests. It is then registered in the Church of Sweden’s computer system.
When the church will regain access to its systems is still unclear. But then follow-up work awaits, where all information that is now only recorded manually must be entered digitally.
“Very sad”
The financial system is also down and further increases the load.
– You don’t realize how hard it is until you are affected. It is very sad that they choose to attack the Church of Sweden, which stands for an activity that is extremely important to society in various ways, says Alexander Ryman.
In retrospect, the Church of Sweden in Alingsås has realized that they were not sufficiently prepared for this type of attack. Now they are reviewing several different options that should make it easier if similar attacks occur in the future – but they have also realized what should not be changed.
– We should probably have saved significantly more on external needles, for example. We will continue our system that we have, that we print funeral confirmations on paper. And that we continue to print our coffin cards, because that is what has saved us now, says Alexander Ryman.