The Scope of the European Cyber Operation
This week, over 100 shops in multiple European countries suffered IT incidents. Internet-linked fridges and freezers overheated, causing significant food loss. The wave started last month when hundreds of French supermarkets faced spoiled stock and damaged equipment. The resulting costs reached millions of euros.
Specific details on affected countries are as follows. Dutch operator Delhaize confirmed that dozens of its stores in Belgium and Luxembourg were hit by an „IT incident.”French retailer Carrefour announced that about 15 of its 700 locations in Belgium faced cooling issues. The Colruyt group, which runs Spar stores in Belgium via franchise, noted that five of its shops were affected. Swedish cooperative Coop stated that cooling systems in seven of its 800 stores were targeted, with disruptions ranging from complete shutdowns to partial operation.
Swedish furniture retailer IKEA, which also operates restaurants on-site, reported that one site in Mons, Belgium, was hit by a cyberattack. Belgian butcher chain De Laet & Van Haver indicated that fridge temperatures in its Hove store, south of Antwerp, rose to 18 degrees Celsius. This spoiled meat worth approximately 15,000 euros (16,764 dollars). Food distributor Musgrave announced that a cyber incident affected cooling systems in 13 SuperValu stores in Ireland. In October, hundreds of French supermarkets were hit by cyberattacks, leading to tons of spoiled food, fires, and melted refrigeration components.
The Attack Spreads Across the Atlantic
The situation has extended across the ocean. In August, freezers at Fort Huachuca military base in Arizona entered defrost mode. This spoiled all the frozen food they contained, according to a Facebook post by the base. In the same month, the naval station in Newport, Rhode Island, reported on Facebook that its cooling system was affected. Only dry goods remained available for purchase. The US Department of Defense considered the freezer failures at military bases to be a suspected hack. This was reported by news agency Reuters at the end of last month, citing four officials familiar with the case. One official said Pentagon investigators were in contact with French authorities regarding this issue.
The method by which hackers target fridges and freezers relies on accessing control systems using internet-connected software. This allows them to raise temperatures and spoil frozen food. In some cases, attackers increased equipment temperatures to 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in European supermarkets. This caused melting or even fires. Awais Rashid, a cybersecurity professor at the University of Bristol, UK, explained that many supermarket cooling systems are managed remotely and often by third parties. These systems have not received necessary software updates to prevent unauthorized access.
In accordance with established cybersecurity practices, these systems should be managed over secured networks. However, in these incidents, that is not the case, and they are accessible on the Internet, Rashid told Al Jazeera. A remote party can access a web server on the controller to configure the system, including changing temperature and maintenance. There are known vulnerabilities in many controllers (many of them are past their end-of-life),he added. Rashid noted that vulnerabilities include easy-to-guesspasswords, meaning anyone could gain access.
Who Is Behind the Attacks?
The motivation behind the attacks remains unclear, but authorities believe it may be a deliberate attempt to disrupt food supply. On Monday, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, stated that the attacks on fridges were a deliberate attempt to disruptthe bloc's food supply and undermine consumer confidence. He added that while food safety is not currently in danger... food waste and business impact are real. Rashid said that although there is little detail on who is behind the attacks or their motivation, the motive is likely disruption. This has financial impacts on supermarkets, but also societal impacts in terms of food supply chain security. Critically, this risks undermining trust in infrastructure people rely on daily,he said.
On Monday, the Belgian prosecutor's office announced it had opened a criminal investigation into the latest cyberattacks on fridges. So far, no one has claimed responsibility. Theories have emerged linking state actors to cyberattacks in general. North Korea was recently accused of being behind the $6.3 billion Binance cryptocurrency theft from last week, which forced the crypto group to freeze accounts. European intelligence officials have also warned that Russia is escalating its shadow war on the continent amid the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, using cyberattacks among its methods.
On Tuesday, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre issued a warning