Germany and Romania have joined the list of European countries reporting cyberattacks on supermarkets, bringing the total to 11. Companies in both countries said on Tuesday that they had been hit the previous day, when similar incidents were reported in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.
Most of the attacks caused supermarket refrigerators or freezers to overheat, forcing affected retailers to discard large quantities of food. No group has claimed responsibility. The European Union described the campaign as a deliberate attempt to disrupt food supplies.
The incidents followed an attack in France in mid-October that caused temperatures to rise sharply in refrigerators and freezers at hundreds of stores. EU spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the latest events showed how cyberattacks could disrupt essential services and affect people’s daily lives.
In Italy, the government summoned the heads of the intelligence services and the National Cybersecurity Agency. Four of the Coop group’s 300 stores in Sicily reported losses amounting to thousands of euros. A spokesperson said seven of its 800 stores in Sweden were also affected, and that equipment connected to older 4G networks had prompted the retailer to issue an update for 5G networks.
Belgium’s federal prosecutor has opened an investigation after dozens of stores reported problems with refrigeration systems. Roni Kokkola, an information security specialist at a Finnish government agency, said the attacks were foreseeable after the first incident in France, adding that vulnerabilities are increasingly being exploited quickly and actively.
Sources: Folha Mercado.