Germany and Romania report hacker attacks on supermarkets; the number of countries affected increases to 11

Germany and Romania reported that some supermarkets were attacked by hackers and added to the list of 11 European countries hit on Monday (2) by cyberattacks, which exposed the vulnerability of the European Union's food supply network.

No group has so far claimed these attacks, which forced the affected chains to discard large quantities of products. The European Union considered the offensive a deliberate attempt to disrupt its food supply.

A first hacker attack in mid-October caused a drastic increase in temperatures in refrigerators and freezers in hundreds of French establishments.

This Monday, similar incidents occurred in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden. This Tuesday (3), companies in Germany and Romania said they were also attacked the day before. Most attacks have led to overheating of freezers or refrigerators in supermarkets.

"These incidents show, once again, how cyber-attacks can disrupt essential services and affect citizens' everyday lives," EU spokesman Thomas Regnier said.

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 recorded "thousands of euros" in losses. The network also had seven of its 800 establishments in Sweden affected, said a spokesperson, who reported that the equipment was connected to old 4G networks, which is why an update to 5G networks was launched.

In Belgium, where dozens of stores reported failures in their refrigeration systems, the Federal Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation.

For Roni Kokkola, an information security specialist at a Finnish government agency, these actions were predictable from the first incident in France.

"Nowadays it is very typical for all types of vulnerabilities to be exploited in an increasingly active and rapid way", he assured.