A Census of Swedish Public Sector Employee Communication on Cybersecurity during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of the Swedish public sector, and to ensure the success of this ongoing process cybersecurity plays an integral part. While Sweden has come far in digitalization, the maturity of cybersecurity work across entities covers a wide range. One way of improving cybersecurity is through communication, thereby enhancing employee cyber situation awareness. In this paper, we conduct a census of Swedish public sector employee communication on cybersecurity at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic using questionnaires. The study shows that public sector entities find the same sources of information useful for their cybersecurity work. We find that nearly two thirds of administrative authorities and almost three quarters of municipalities are not yet at the implemented cybersecurity level. We also find that 71 % of municipalities have less than one dedicated staff for cybersecurity.