After a new wave of cyber attacks that affected supermarket refrigerators in several European countries, the European Commission wants to evaluate the capacity of distributors to deal with this type of incidents. Christophe Hansen, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, announced that the issue will be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the Commission’s Security College.
The objective is, in particular, to verify the brands’ emergency plans and their ability to react when essential equipment for food preservation is compromised. “The European food supply chain must be prepared for new and changing threats”declared Christophe Hansen to political. Judge the repetition of these attacks “deeply worrying” due to economic losses for distributors and shelves that may end up empty for consumers.
The new hack took place yesterday in at least six countries of the European Union: Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands and Estonia. Incidents have also been reported in Finland. Refrigerators and freezers in dozens of stores saw their temperatures suddenly rise, sometimes to 50°C. Retailers have had to withdraw fresh and frozen products from sale and throw away stock that is no longer suitable for consumption.
In Belgium, Carrefour confirmed that 15 of its 700 stores were affected. In Sweden, the ICA and Coop chains also reported incidents, while in Ireland 13 SuperValu stores were affected. The cooling systems of several Delhaize and Spar stores were also affected.
This wave comes a few weeks after similar attacks in France. Subsequently, hundreds of supermarkets were affected with significant food losses and fires broke out in some stores. The recent incidents bear similarities to those seen in France, but authorities have not established that they are linked or identified their perpetrators.
The European Commission wants to verify the contingency plans of distributors
The European Commission therefore wants to examine how brands can maintain their activity when their equipment is disrupted by a cyber attack. The Security College, chaired by Ursula von der Leyen and which brings together all the commissioners, makes it possible to address threats that go beyond the framework of a specific sector. The next meeting will be organized soon, but a date has not yet been set.
For the European Commission, the problem goes beyond the loss of goods. Cyber attacks on refrigeration systems can disrupt part of the food chain and undermine consumer confidence. The European Commission considers these incidents as a potential threat to the resilience of European supplies.
The technical issue also remains unresolved. Commercial refrigerator management systems are connected to the Internet to allow remote monitoring and control. In previous incidents, hackers have taken advantage of these accesses to modify computer settings. Therefore, security updates and protecting remote connections are essential, but some installations also require hardware modifications.
