Hackers raise temperatures in German and Romanian stores

Hackers increased the temperatures inside refrigeration systems at supermarkets in Germany, Romania, and the United Kingdom on Monday. Officials confirmed the attacks on Tuesday, raising the count of European countries affected in the current hacking spree to at least 11.

The European Union promised a collective response to the incidents. EU spokesperson Thomas Regnier stated that the attacks were not isolated. He noted that the bloc's agencies are coordinating with national authorities to develop a joint strategy. Regnier emphasized the need for collective resilience against such cyber events.

The attacks disrupted operations in nine EU countries on Monday. These nations include Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden. Germany and Romania reported additional damage on Tuesday. Officials in Germany identified four affected supermarkets. Romanian authorities confirmed that six stores were hit. The United Kingdom, which is not part of the EU, also experienced disruptions.

Dan Cimpean, the director of Romania's National Cyber Security Directorate, described the attack as semi-amateurish. He told the AFP news agency that authorities do not suspect a state actor was responsible. Cimpean added that no other infrastructure was compromised. The motive for the cyberattacks remains unknown, and no group has claimed responsibility.

Belgium faced some of the most severe damage on Monday. Dozens of stores across several grocery chains reported refrigeration failures. Federal prosecutors in the country have opened an investigation into the incident. In Italy, about 20 supermarkets were affected. Giuseppe Spadaro, who directs a group running Coop supermarkets in Sicily, said four of its 300 stores were hit. He told Corriere della Sera that the shelves are empty and that the company had to throw away all the spoiled inventory.

The Italian government held talks with intelligence service heads and the National Cybersecurity Agency on Tuesday. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's office described the incident as having a limited impact. The office issued a statement saying there is no cause for alarm, though relevant institutional bodies remain on high alert. In the United Kingdom, Richard Horne, the chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, said the impact on small meat-processing firms was minimal. He told the BBC that the issue affected the whole food supply chain and involved the exploitation of vulnerable technology.

The second wave of attacks mirrors a similar cyberattack that hit hundreds of supermarkets in France in October. That previous incident also affected stores in several other European countries. In Sweden, the supermarket chain Coop said that refrigerators and freezers at seven stores were connected to old 4G networks. The stores have since resumed normal operations. Carlos Cancinos, a spokesperson for the chain, said Coop has accelerated an upgrade to move connected refrigeration equipment onto 5G networks and modern modems.

Danfoss, a Danish maker of refrigeration controls, said its systems were among those targeted. The company has been in close contact with customers for the past three weeks. Danfoss recommended that systems not be directly accessible from the internet. Frank Groenewegen, a cybersecurity expert at Deloitte in The Hague, urged retailers to check their refrigeration controllers. He told the Reuters news agency that if retailers do not know the status of their systems, they should remove them from the public internet immediately.