It is unlike anything we have seen before and we hope that our measures and the strong cooperation that exists between our expert authorities and other actors around the world will give a sufficient result, so that this does not have to have a negative impact,” Gustafsson told SVT. So far, it hasn't been possible to see whether data has been stolen, according to SSC head of strategic security Stefan Gustafsson. According to the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) the satellite images can be used to observe nuclear missiles or naval bases.

Esrange, one of the world's largest ground stations near the city of Kiruna, receives and stores data from satellites in space. One of the affected companies was the Swedish Space Company (SSC), which handles extremely sensitive satellite data. “In theory, the hackers have been able to gain access to classified information, if there was such data in the IT environments they entered,” MSB cybersecurity expert Peter Jonegård told SVT. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) called the attack “very serious” and urged Swedish companies that have used Solarwinds' Orion platform, the same one that was used by the US authorities that were targeted in the same attack, to act “immediately” and remove the malicious code.

After that, the hackers selected authorities and companies they found extra interesting and built so-called 'backdoors' into them to be able to steal data and monitor their e-mails, national broadcaster SVT reported. The victims allegedly received a malicious code connection with an update. The attack is believed to have lasted since March this year, and had gone undetected.

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