The networking event, which brought together over 70 participants, raised questions about the risks, challenges and opportunities that exist today and how we can prevent and act to increase cybersecurity. Simone Fischer-Hübner, Professor of Computer Science at Karlstad University, opened the programme.
“Today, there is a great demand for staff with expertise in information and cyber security. Recruitment can be a challenge, and the supply of skilled labour in this field needs to increase,” says Simone.
Simone Fischer-Hubner, Professor of Computer Science at Karlstad University
Karlstad University is involved in several initiatives to promote this, including the establishment of Cybercampus Sweden, which will be a
national collaboration between several universities, research institutes, government agencies and companies across Sweden to strengthen the supply of expertise and research in cybersecurity. In the spring, Sweden’s first business graduate school in cybersecurity was also launched, made possible through a collaboration between companies and a number of universities, including Karlstad University. The research school aims to increase cybersecurity expertise for Sweden and for Swedish companies.
Cybersecurity a concern for everyone
Johan Nilsson, CEO of Dizparc Secured, an independent cybersecurity specialist, gave the audience an insight into the world of cybercrime. He said that cybersecurity attacks have become a societal problem that we must do everything we can to stop.
“The time when cybersecurity was only an issue for authorities and large companies is over, today all companies need to address the issue,” says Johan.
Johan believes that everyone today must acquire skills to avoid being exposed to cyber attacks.
The modern cybercriminal actors are incredibly numerous in number and attack us all in order to make money, what we as companies and individuals must do as a minimum is to review what we expose on the internet, how we act there and make sure to adequately protect what we have to expose.
Increase your resilience
The main task of the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency is to lead the work of coordinating and developing the activities of authorities and other actors in Sweden’s psychological defence. Peder Hyllengren, who works as a research coordinator at the agency, presented their work and told us how we can strengthen our resilience to various influence campaigns that we are exposed to. He also emphasised the importance of improving our ability to be critical of sources in a digital environment.
“On the website of the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency, you can find tips on how to recognise false and misleading information and increase your resilience,” Peder says.
The event was funded by the Interreg Sweden-Norway project Cross Border Cyber Capacity, where the long-term goal is to help raise awareness of the importance of digital security among companies and organisations and to facilitate new startups and spinoffs. By promoting innovation and collaboration, the project will play an important role in working towards a more secure digital future for businesses and organisations in Sweden and Norway.
The project is funded by the EU Interreg Sweden-Norway programme.
