CyberSweden 2025: Advancing National Cybersecurity Through Collaboration and Innovation
On 10–11 September 2025, Gothenburg served as the host city for CyberSweden 2025, a landmark conference arranged by Cybercampus Sweden in collaboration with RISE and Chalmers University of Technology. This inaugural event marked a significant step forward in Swedish national cybersecurity, bringing together leading researchers, industry experts, and policymakers to address the most pressing challenges in digital security.
A Strategic Initiative for a Secure Digital Future
The CyberSweden conferences is an important part of Cybercampus Sweden’s broader mission to strengthen Sweden’s cybersecurity capabilities through interdisciplinary collaboration, research excellence, and knowledge exchange. The conference provides a platform for showcasing cutting-edge research, fostering dialogue across sectors, and promoting Sweden as a hub for cybersecurity innovation.
Key Themes and Program Highlights
The conference program was structured around several core themes, including:
- Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity
- Privacy and Trust in Digital Systems vs Legal Initiatives
- Vulnerability Research and Ethical Hacking
- Getting ready for Post-Quantum
- Research to Startup
- Government support for research
These topics were explored through keynote lectures, panel discussions and poster presentations, offering participants a comprehensive overview of current research and emerging trends.
Promoting Emerging Talent
A central focus of CyberSweden 2025 was the promotion of young researchers. The conference provided early-career scientists with the opportunity to present their work, engage with senior experts, and build professional networks. The Best Scientific Poster Award recognized outstanding contributions from the next generation of cybersecurity scholars. Awarded Patrick Shirazi from University of Skövde showcased a study in Human Factors of Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) Adoption in Large Organizations.
International Expertise and National Relevance
CyberSweden 2025 attracted world-renowned researchers from across the globe, underscoring Sweden’s growing prominence in the international cybersecurity landscape. Discussions ranged from usable privacy and IoT security to software engineering for secure systems, reflecting the breadth and depth of expertise present at the event. To name a few, Professor Herbert Bos from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam talked about the Art of Being Offensive, and how insisting on an offensive approach reveals hidden vulnerabilities. Leyla Bilge, Global Head of Scam Research at Gen Digital showed how AI-powered tool can be used to understand and protect users from scam attempts.
Encryption and Public Policy
One of the most thought-provoking sessions addressed the ongoing debate surrounding encryption. In the session, a particularly notable presentation focused on the Signal messaging protocol and maintaining privacy in an era of increasingly sophisticated surveillance technologies and legal initiatives.
A panel discussion examined the tension between privacy rights and law enforcement needs, the risks associated with cryptographic backdoors, and the broader implications for democratic societies. This dialogue highlighted the importance of informed public discourse and evidence-based policymaking in the digital age.
Research and Innovation
In a session of showing possible ways to take scientific findings into vital startups or spinoffs, we had the privilege of listening to open Mathias Ekstedt told the story of how Foreseeti (now part of Google Cloud) grew from an idea to be acquired by Google Cloud. Alejandro Russo shared how DPella has changed in scope and target groups by not focusing on strategies, and Christian Gehrmann shared how bifrost security has evolved from research project to making real business value.
Government support for research
As research takes funding, and a lot of effort goes into funding activities, the session of support and funding opportunity had large interest for many participants. The views and perspectives of public funders as the European Commission and national agencies met the views of private funders in WASP. The talks were followed by a panel discussions, where Martin Nilsson Jacobi, president of Chalmers University of Technology and Åke Ingerman from Örebro University could give the perspective from academia.
Conclusion and Future Outlook
CyberSweden 2025 represented a significant milestone in Sweden’s cybersecurity journey. As the organizing body, Cybercampus Sweden is proud to have facilitated this important gathering and remains committed to advancing cybersecurity research, education, and innovation. The success of this inaugural conference lays a strong foundation for future initiatives aimed at building a resilient and secure digital society, and we look forward to CyberSweden 2026.
For information and updates, please visit cyberswedenconf.se .