A member of the Swedish Armed Forces allegedly left a USB memory stick containing classified military information on a public library computer in Stockholm, reports The Canadian Press.
The Swedish Armed Forces announced the incident last week, saying it contained “both unclassified and classified information such as information regarding IED (improvised explosive devices) and mine threats in Afghanistan.”
Col. Bengt Sandstrom from Military Intelligence and Security Service said in a statement: “We take this kind of carelessness very seriously.”
“It’s primarily a matter of security for our soldiers,” Sandstrom added. He noted that this type of carelessness is punishable by up to a six month prison sentence.
Sandstrom met with defense attaches from the other countries mentioned in the documents, including the United States.
The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet said they received the memory stick from an unidentified person who had found it in a computer at a Stockholm public library. Aftonbladet said the documents included two classified files.
According to the military, the employee has admitted to leaving the memory stick at the library and a civil investigation will be conducted to assess the extent of damage caused by the memory stick’s misplacement.