Online threats to Lund researchers on the rise

The number of online threats to university researchers is rising significantly, according to Håkan Jönsson, chief security officer at Lund University.

Jönsson told the university’s magazine, Lunds Universitets Magasin, that he was notified of 16 situations last year where academics had been threatened, but believed the true number to be much higher. “Most people do not report these threats, so you can be sure the real number is a lot more than that.”

The rise is almost exclusively due to an increased number of online threats. Jönsson explained that threats against an individual academic were usually directed at researchers in specific fields. “There are certain subjects that are like a magnet for abusive internet trolls,” he said in the article, published on 7 May.