On January 19, several companies and stores around the country suffered a major IT failure. This resulted in companies such as Rusta, Stadium and Granngården being put out of business as the IT systems did not work. The reason behind the problem was a Russian hacker attack directed at IT provider Tietoevry’s Swedish data center. The scale turned out to result in the single most extensive attack to hit Sweden – ever.
The IT attack cost the discount chain Rusta nearly SEK 120 million in sales and SEK 70 million in profit.
READ MORE: IT attack costs discount chain tens of millions
Rusta lost many millions in the IT failure. Photo: Jessica Gow/TTRusta’s harsh criticism: “Not surprised”
Svenska Dagbladet has previously reported that the supplier Tietoevry had extensive security flaws. A person employed by one of the affected authorities has confirmed to the newspaper that the supplier had previously been warned about its shortcomings by several authorities.
– Systems have been vulnerable, and it has been warned about a large number of times.
This has now been received by Rusta’s CEO, Goran Westerbergto direct harsh criticism at the IT provider and at the same time emphasize that he is not surprised by the previous alarms about security flaws.
“Unfortunately, we are not surprised if this turns out to be true. I feel that we as customers are absolutely last on Tietoevry’s list of priorities. We have experienced great difficulties in gaining access to both information and senior executives during all phases of the breakdown” , he writes in another email Today’s industry.
READ MORE: Rusta’s response after technical problems for customers
Göran Westerberg is CEO of Rusta. Photo: Press image RustaRusta’s CEO: “A matter of national IT security”
Westerberg also criticizes the fact that the safety deficiencies and the extent of the accident on January 19 have so far been unknown to both the company Rusta and the public. Something he sees as a matter of national security.
“The same applies to any possible countermeasures taken by Tietoevry. All of this is shrouded in obscurity for hundreds of affected authorities, companies and organizations. I therefore consider this issue to be system-critical and thus ultimately a matter of national IT security”.
In a comment to Svenska Dagbladet’s review, Tietoevry speaks out about the criticism and believes that it is simply not true.
“The claims presented are not true, and we do not recognize them based on our usual way of working. For example, Tietoevry monitors relevant alerts about vulnerabilities from multiple sources and takes preventive measures accordingly. We also have a cyber security engagement with relevant authorities . In addition, we are regularly audited by external parties”.
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