Confidential information has been openly available in the Land Survey Office's archives, and the customer service has handed out documents without secrecy review.
This was revealed by Expressen in November last year.
Since then, the authority's director-general Susanne Ås Sivborg has been dismissed. The archive was closed.
Now, the government is appointing an external independent investigator to examine the Land Survey Office's work on information security in its manual handling and digital systems.
Allowed to present proposals
The investigator will be former Court of Appeal President Dag Stegeland, who will collaborate with the Security Police and the Integrity Protection Authority. He will also investigate the distribution of responsibility within the authority and be able to propose measures to rectify security breaches.
A work is already underway internally at the authority – but it is not enough, according to Infrastructure and Housing Minister Andreas Carlson (KD).
The government believes that further measures are required to get to the bottom of the particularly important information security and secrecy issues, he says.
The deficiencies were pointed out internally to the authority's director-general Susanne Ås Sivborg. Already in 2018, comments were made that were shared with the management group, but despite warnings, the archive was not closed. Three high-ranking officials were recently praised for standing up and pointing out security breaches, despite being opposed internally.
Investigates internal warnings
How much will Stegeland be able to delve into the former director-general's actions?
In the investigator's assignment, it includes analyzing the measures taken by the authority, but also the internal comments on inadequate protection of information and how it has been handled, says Carlson.
Dag Stegeland, however, has no mandate to recommend any potential legal actions.
Why not?
The Land Survey Office's operations are under the supervision of the Security Police. This is not a criminal investigation, but a formal investigation, but it does not make the investigation less urgent to get to the bottom of the events that have occurred, says Carlson.
What potential damage Swedish security interests may have been exposed to as a result of the leak is unclear, and it is also something that needs to be clarified, according to the government.
