This is where the cyber soldiers of the future train – Sydsvenskan

Cyber ​​platoon recruits conduct an exercise to prevent the enemy from penetrating a wireless network.Image: Fredrik Sandberg / TT

– Captain, the unit is now removed from the system.

Recruit Tryggve, 19, continues to press the computer keyboard. He is sitting in a military tent in a forest area next to the Command Regiment in Enköping, next to the wall of the tent in front of him are two displays with rows of numbers in different colors.

You have just defended your network against a cyber attack.

– We started a more detailed analysis of the incident, says Tryggve.

If the attack had been acute, it probably would have come from another country or from a criminal actor. Sweden is continually exposed, even in peacetime, to various forms of cyber attacks that must be dealt with, says Patrik Ahlgren, head of the cyber section at Headquarters.

– They intrude on our computer systems, either to steal data or destroy functions, or simply to prepare for a higher level of conflict.

Cyber ​​operations are as obvious a part of war today as air, land and sea operations, says Ahlgren.

– Modern ammunition and communications are heavily IT-based, which means our forces and those of others are vulnerable to IT attacks. If you don’t have these skills, you are at a disadvantage against the opponent.

This time, however, the attack was carried out by recruit Olivia, also a recruit in cyber soldier training. From the back seat of a military off-road vehicle outside the tent, he was able to crack the password and gain access to the network in just seconds, before Tryggve found out and could break the connection.

Tryggve and Olivia are two of the first 30 recruits to be trained as cyber soldiers in an entirely new recruitment training within the Military, which began this summer. Those who are examined from here can be located, among other things, in IT or management units and contribute to strengthening the Swedish defense capacity within the cyber domain, as it is called within the Armed Forces.

Education is part of increased investment in cyber defense, which is based on the Government’s defense policy guidance bill for 2021-2025 that capacities within cyber defense will be strengthened.

Patrik Ahlgren says, however, that Sweden is already strong internationally today in terms of its cyber defense capabilities.

– We have nothing to be ashamed of. We are good.

– The Armed Forces began to develop these capabilities more than 15 years ago. Then we switched to a defense employed without conscripts, but recruiting is back now, says Ahlgren of the newly started recruiting training.

The training lasts eleven months and in addition to the usual basic military training that every conscript undergoes, cyber soldiers also receive job training specializing in cyber defense and cyber security. That part of the education is carried out in collaboration with KTH.

The pace of cyber soldier training is high, two to three times higher than in a college education, says Johan Axelsson, commander of the command regiment.

– In order for recruits to be able to do so, we have an extended enlistment process, where the individual undergoes various tests so that we can get a weighted assessment of whether the individual is deemed able to do so. It’s a clear keyhole that you have to go through.

Search pressure has been high, he says.

– According to requests, we have received more than enough for our selection tests, and according to tests, it has been of such high quality that we have been able to fill all 30 places.

Next year it will increase to 40 recruits and for another year the idea is to accept 60 recruits for the training of cyber soldiers.

A large portion of the recruits have had ambitions to study to become a civil engineer, says platoon commander Martin Liland, of the common backgrounds of many cyber soldiers.

– Many also have previous knowledge in programming, others have a great knowledge of how networks are structured.

Recruit Tryggve, like many others in the platoon, has a natural high school background and has had a keen interest in technology throughout his life.

– Basically, I’m obligated, so I would have completed my military service anyway. But since I had always been interested in technology and they told me that the Armed Forces would start this project, I thought it was a good idea to apply in any case.

TT: How should you prepare if you want to apply for education?

– It’s probably about finding something between computers or networking or IT security that you really think is fun. Creating your own interest is a very good foundation for learning for yourself.

If he himself wants to continue in the army after military service, he still does not know for sure. But the longer the training lasts, the more attractive a future looks on defense, he says.

– It is a very stimulating environment to be.