Germany: Intelligence services apparently intervene in cyber attacks on supermarkets

After the cyber attacks on cooling systems in European supermarkets, German intelligence services got involved. “The incidents are the subject of current intelligence investigations,” the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) told the “Handelsblatt” on Friday. The Joint Center for Combating Hybrid Threats (GAZ Hybrid) is also dealing with the topic. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD), among others, work together there.

Recently, several countries in Europe reported cyber attacks on freezing and cooling systems in supermarkets. In addition to Sweden, Belgium, Estonia, Finland and Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal also announced attacks on Monday. There were also disruptions in individual food markets in Germany. Three weeks ago there was a massive cyber attack on supermarket cooling systems in France.

The current findings indicate “an exploitation of known vulnerabilities in the affected control systems,” explained the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, according to “Handelsblatt”. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior told the newspaper: "The manipulation of control systems with the aim of destroying goods is a serious incident." It is unclear whether foreign secret services are behind the attacks. There is currently “no information available that would allow these attacks to be clearly attributed to a specific actor or government agency,” said the spokesman.

At the same time, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution pointed out the growing danger of state-controlled cyber attacks. “Germany is the focus of foreign secret services.” Commercial companies and operators of critical infrastructure are particularly at risk. The authority is particularly concerned about Russia. "There is still a high risk of cyber attacks by Russian state actors, particularly in response to sanctions from the European Union and in connection with Germany's support for Ukraine."