Swedish leader says security leak in 2015 was disaster

HELSINKI — Sweden's prime minister said yesterday that a security leak in the transport agency two years ago was "a disaster" and had exposed the country and its citizens to possible injury.

Stefan Lofven said the data leak was revealed after security police investigated the outsourcing of services by the Swedish Transport Agency and found IT workers in other countries, including the Czech Republic, were not given normal security checks. The leak was first reported on last week.

Lofven told reporters he heard about the leak in January and that the head of the agency was fired.

"What happened was an accident. It is very serious and a breach of law," he told a news conference. "It exposed Sweden and Swedish citizens to injury."

He said, however, that he could not say "exactly what information was involved" in the leak.

"We can't reveal everything when it comes to security matters, but the public is entitled to a good and comprehensive account of what happened, what measures have been taken to ensure that information dealing with security is safe and secure in Sweden," Lofven said.

He said that he first heard of the leak in January after his state secretary was informed about it a month earlier.

"Naturally, I would have liked to get the information earlier," Lofven said.

He declined to speculate on what damage the leak may have caused, saying security and military officials would now assess the situation.