European supermarket refrigerator cyberattacks, Digi Mart USA News: Less than a month ago, France experienced large-scale cyberattacks targeting refrigerators in several supermarkets. Since then, attacks have multiplied across a number of European countries.
So how can this wave be explained?
After France was targeted first, at least 14 European countries have been hit by cyberattacks aimed at refrigerators in recent days. According to an analysis by the review Grand Continent, 700 supermarkets in France, 75 in Belgium, 30 in Sweden and 20 in Italy were affected.
In other countries, the cases have been more sporadic.
In large stores, refrigeration installations are generally controlled by computer systems. It is precisely this internet connection that creates the weakness hackers exploit.
During the first wave of attacks, hackers notably exploited vulnerabilities in older versions of Danfoss or Dixell control software. Danfoss, a Danish company, said its products no longer receive software or security updates.
According to Grand Continent, a second wave of attacks occurred overnight on November 1 to 2, affecting 14 countries, including Germany, where Rewe and Edeka stores were targeted, and Italy, where about twenty stores were hit in Sicily.
These attacks are not limited to a few broken freezers. Unlike conventional cyberattacks aimed at stealing personal data or blocking a website, attacks on operational technology (OT) have immediate physical consequences.
In this case, hackers were able to raise the temperature of individual refrigerators to 50 degrees in several European countries. A similar mechanism was used against the French Blood Establishment (EFS), where hackers attempted to change temperature settings to above 110 degrees for installations storing blood and plasma.
“When hackers enter operational technology systems, the consequences are physical,” explained Michael Ferdinandsen, CEO of Secomea, a Danish industrial cybersecurity company.
An essential question remains: who is behind these cyberattacks? For now, the perpetrators have not been officially identified.
In the analysis published on November 4, Grand Continent cites several signs that could suggest Russian involvement.
Many engineers and IT specialists, including Kévin Tellier, a cybersecurity engineer at Synacktiv, interviewed by France 24, say that “anyone with some knowledge” could have altered the temperatures of these refrigerators. The motives of the hackers remain unknown, since the attacks are numerous, occurring in many countries and across several types of businesses.
So far, counting all affected businesses and cases confirmed by an authority, France, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Luxembourg, Estonia, Romania, Denmark, Poland and the United Kingdom have suffered cyberattacks since October 11. Greece and Norway reportedly were also affected, but authorities have not confirmed this.
