Swedish public prosecutors announced on Tuesday that a cyber attack on an IT system provider has uncovered the personal data of 1.5 million people online.
Swedish media said that city and municipal councils and private companies were struck.
The number of targeted people represents almost 15% of the Swedish population of 10.6 million.
The system provider Milloodata attack took place during the weekend of August 23-24, said the Authority prosecutor in a statement.
“The data stolen due to the attack on the system supplier has now been leaked.
“This concerns data from more than 1.5 million private individuals,” said public prosecutor Sandra Helgadottir, adding that an investigation into the data breach was going on.
Helgadottir said that a group that went on the name Datacarry, had claimed responsibility and the investigation aimed at identifying the responsible person or persons responsible.
“There is currently no evidence to suggest the involvement of a foreign power,” she said.
Swedish media had reported that the hackers had demanded 1.5 Bitcoin (about $ 170,000) when they threatened to release the data.
Milloodata said on the weekend that the data on the Darknet had been published.
The company said the type of data leaked names, addresses and contact details contained.
The Swedish Privacy Protection Authority said at the end of August that it had received 250 reports from affected parties.
According to the authority, at least 164 municipalities and four regional authorities were affected by the attack.
Public Omroep SVT reported that employees, especially in the city of Gothenburg, were struck by the hack.
A number of private companies had also seen their data in danger, including truck maker Volvo, airline SAS and aircraft machines GKN Aerospace.
