This research is situated at the intersection of cybersecurity risk management and critical infrastructure protection, where traditional security approaches are challenged by evolving threats and resource constraints. Although consequence-driven cyber-informed engineering (CCE) offers a powerful methodology for protecting critical infrastructure, its resource requirements challenge organizations with limited financial capacity, personnel availability, or technical expertise, for example municipalities operating water supply and wastewater treatment. This paper addresses the fact that no simplified version of CCE exists that, while requiring fewer resources to implement, maintains the essential protective capabilities. This study investigates the principles of CCE and how adaptation to resource constraints can be feasible to strengthen smaller organization’s ability to handle cyber threats and maintain public services. To this end, the CCE and the literature on cyber resilience, resource constraints and organizational adaptation strategies are examined about resource requirements, specific characteristics and suitable proposals for adaptations. The results also provide valuable insights into municipal wastewater practice. The paper contributes a comprehensive outline of the CCE and recommendations for practice on how to adapt this framework to be more attainable for organizations with limited resources. It highlights the potential of the adapted CCE to reduce resource requirements while maintaining the fundamental protection logic. 

This paper investigates how information classification is con-ducted in practice. Despite being a foundation of risk management work, information classification remains understudied from a practical per-spective. This study uses semi-structured interviews and a small-scale experiment with professionals from a consultancy firm operating at a national level to explore how information assets are identified, valued and classified. The findings show that information classification is not a purely formalized process, but a collaborative and interpretative activ-ity in which formal models are often adapted or bypassed in favor of context-specific reasoning. Key challenges in practice include inconsis-tent use of terminology, subjective judgments, and the limitations of classification schemes. The study highlights a need for a shared under-standing and trust among participants, which were important factors for successful classification activities, especially in inter-organizational con-texts. A three-step approach is thus proposed that emphasizes the value of information in organizational processes before assessing its protection needs. This new approach contributes to a more value-oriented under-standing of assets instead of viewing them solely from the perspective of loss or damage. Future research could extend the findings presented.

While mineral resources significantly bolster the wealth of certain regions, such as the north of Europe, they also represent a paradox where wealth leads to conflicts rather than fostering local development. This situation is further complicated by the clash between sustainable development ideals and the reality of survival, which inadvertently strengthens support for mining in local governance. Furthermore, the concept of green growth, which suggests that economic expansion and environmental sustainability can coexist harmoniously, is still under scrutiny. These factors collectively spotlight a complex dilemma: balancing the promise of sustainable development and green transition against the challenges of promoting local development and environmental stewardship. Addressing this emerging complexity requires participatory and inclusive approaches to citizen engagement, not only to democratize societies, but also to achieve the higher levels of intelligence required for decision-making and governance. However, there is a considerable lack of knowledge about the latter, so this paper stresses the pervasiveness of information and communication technologies, which allows for leveraging digital spaces for dialogue and collaborations among stakeholders. To bridge this gap between digital and social innovation, this paper reviews the literature to answer the question of how innovative digital technologies support addressing such societal development dilemmas collaboratively. A specific focus is on how AI-enhanced digital platforms can contribute to overcome the associated problems in society and foster innovative, informed, and transformative approaches to environmental sustainability and co-governance practices. It highlights the necessity of harnessing the synergy between human and artificial intelligence on these platforms.

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) systems, such as ChatGPT and DALL-E, enable the automatic creation of content that closely resembles human-produced work, allowing for both constructive and potentially harmful applications. This study investigates the impact of GAI on digital resilience in society, focusing on the opportunities and challenges these technologies present. Digital resilience is defined as the capacity to maintain societal functions despite disruptions to or by digital systems. This study draws on a systematic literature review of 164 research articles, with findings categorized into three key perspectives: technology, organization, and governance. Within each perspective, themes for further research are identified. The results highlight the importance of recognizing GAI’s dual nature to both support and threaten digital resilience. To promote secure digitalization, our study calls for more empirical research on the risks associated with GAI applications, transparent artificial intelligence usage, and the establishment of ethical guidelines. The study also advocates for increased interdisciplinary research to ensure that new technologies and resilience can coexist as foundational elements of a resilient, democratic society.

This study examines the role of crisis management as an enabling practice for organizational cyber resilience within the public sector. Taking a stakeholder perspective, this qualitative case study analyzes how a Swedish municipal social administration, which was the victim of a ransomware attack that escalated into a crisis, managed to maintain essential services despite widespread disruptions to its digital systems. The case study demonstrates the limitations of a purely technical approach to managing cyberattacks. It offers valuable insights into the characteristics of a cyber crisis and its impact on critical municipal services. The results highlight the need to integrate crisis management and cybersecurity efforts for enhanced organizational cyber resilience. They also highlight the role of specific stakeholders “at the edge” of the organization during a (cyber) crisis: the nontechnical employees who were the first to handle the operational consequences of the digital disruption and ensured that the public services continued to function. The article presents findings on how public service cyber resilience can be strengthened and sustained through effective crisis management practices, including adaptability, sound decision-making, and clear communication. This study thus contributes to an enhanced understanding of cyber crisis management in public organizations in general and practices relevant to strengthening cyber resilience in particular.

Den senaste tiden har det rapporterats om flera störningar av GPS-signaler i länder vid Natos östra gräns. Dessa har inte bara drabbat militärt strategiska funktioner, men även det civila luftrummet. Denna typ av störningar av exempelvis rymdsystem och samhällsviktiga verksamheter beräknas bli vanligare framöver, i kölvattnet av användning av ny teknik i geopolitiska konflikter. Rymdsäkerhet har därför också blivit en angelägenhet för Sverige, särskilt med hänsyn till Sveriges medlemskap i Nato. Denna rapport sammanställer resultat från ett forskningsprojekt som genomfördes under våren 2025 med finansiering av Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap (MSB) för att ta fram en syntes av kunskapsläget inom området samhällsskydd och beredskap, med fokus på rymdsystem som kritisk infrastruktur. Studien bygger på en litteraturöversikt där 190 artiklar analyserades via bibliometrisk analys, tematisk analys, och systemanalys.

Litteraturen beskriver utöver relativt välbeforskade hot mot datornätverk även rymdsystemets unika egenskaper som försvårar implementering av vanliga säkerhetsåtgärder. Vi presenterar praktiska lärdomar och identifierar kunskapsluckor inom området och uppslag for fortsatt forskning, som i sin tur kan stärka samhällelig resiliens. Resultaten bidrar bland annat med kunskap om de cybersäkerhetsproblem som uppstår när aktörer, som är involverade i mer eller mindre outtalade konflikter, siktar på att vinna mark i rymden. Teknikutvecklingen och utvecklingen av forskningsfältet kan knytas till både en kommersialisering av rymdindustrin och ett starkare geopolitiskt intresse av rymden som i sin tur involverar cyberrymden som slagfält för konkurrens och maktutövande. Detta ledde oss fram till en översiktlig beskrivning av fem scenarier som ramar in framtida utvecklingen av rymdsystem och innebär en rad utmaningar för offentliga och privata organisationer, förvaltning och politik. Kunskapsöversikten skapar således en länk mellan forskning och praktik vilket lägger en grund för behovsmotiverade forskningssatsningar och kunskapsutveckling som är av praktisk relevans för aktörer inom samhällsviktiga verksamhet och beredskapssystemet.

Technological developments have enabled private and public actors to access near-Earth space. Space systems are both critical infrastructure and important sub-systems of other critical infrastructures (e.g., GPS and weather forecasting) dependent on space technology. However, unlike other critical infrastructures, space systems are relatively unexplored from a security perspective. The paper presents a system model based on a synthesis of the current research front discussed in national and international research literature, reports, and studies. The soft systems methodology is used to develop the model useful for actors concerned with risk management to increase the understanding of systemic dependencies of space systems and strengthen the resilience in critical infrastructures and services. This paper provides insights into digital risks for space systems, highlighting serious societal consequences and areas for enhanced space security. Based on the system model and the analysis provided for a better understanding of the relationships among these systems, future research needs to strengthen cybersecurity in space systems as exemplified.

This paper examines the role of aviation in general and regional airports in particular for societal resilience and future development in geographical peripheral and sparsely populated areas. It concentrates on a Swedish case study that shows that the official Swedish transportation policy conveys a strong focus on passenger numbers, which lead to economic challenges for the smaller, regional airports and airlines in running a viable business. In addition, the study emphasises that these regional airports in addition to other services play an important role for society’s ability to handle medical or traffic accidents, natural hazards like wild-fires, and security-related transports, and to establish proper preparedness for ensuring resilience and territorial sovereignty (as required for the NATO membership). Despite of being an important part of a resilient transportation system, the regional airports are a high-cost factor for the Swedish municipalities that run them, while the benefit occurs at the societal level. This problem of the common good – that the costs and benefits are unevenly distributed – brings the risk that municipal operators choose to close the airports, which considerably affects societal resilience in remote and rural areas. Insights from the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic indicate that rescaling is a very difficult endeavour if robust maintenance has been neglected in times with low traffic volumes in addition to societal adaption. Future research could address how costs and responsibilities could be more evenly distributed to strengthen societal resilience in sparsely inhabited and geographical remote areas.

The ability to handle threats, such as disinformation, manipulation of public opinion, and disruption of critical supplies, is becoming increasingly important, thus, necessitating, among other strategies, efforts to establish a proper risk communication to the public. This paper addresses the need for more empirical research in this area to contribute to the development of an in-depth understanding of public risk communication that includes information-related threats and cyber issues. The study involves officials of three public organizations entrusted with safety and security in society: the police, the rescue service, and the county administrative board of a county in the middle of Sweden. The results detail the recognition of risks to be communicated, the organization of the communication process, the messages that these actors seek to bring forth, and to whom as well as challenges of public risk communication in the digital era. The findings indicate that information-related and cyber risks are increasingly essential to consider as an additional layer of public communication. Two implications emerged as particularly important: (1) all communication about risks and crises must consider the systemic risk of mis- and disinformation, and (2) tailored communication about the risks interrelated with disinformation should use human-centered, dialogue-based, and moderated approaches. Further research can focus on associated challenges, considering the distribution of responsibilities, inter-organizational information sharing and cooperation, and the possibly stochastic effects on critical (information) infrastructures and, ultimately, societal values.