A number of UK meat suppliers reported disruptions to their temperature controls overnight as cyber attacks targeting software used by supermarkets and food suppliers spread across Europe
Several UK meat suppliers reported their refrigeration units heating up overnight after falling victim to cyber attacks targeting software used by supermarkets and food suppliers across Europe. The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (Aims) revealed that a number of its approximately 300 members had “unexpectedly become collateral” from the hack.
Some members witnessed their fridge systems beginning to defrost on Monday night, while another saw their unit’s temperature soar to an alarming 100C. However, due to the nature of how abattoirs typically operate, the units were empty at the time – meaning no food produce was affected.
An Aims spokesman stated: “None who have been affected have lost any meat, but once again this must act as a reminder to all in the food industry, at whatever point in the supply chain they are, that their businesses may be seen by some as targets.
“We urge our members and the wider industry to be vigilant,” he added. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) confirmed it is collaborating with the affected firms, stating that the national impact is “minimal”.
Speaking at the NCSC annual report launch on Tuesday, director of operations Paul Chichester said: “We’re aware of those incidents in the UK, and obviously we’re working with the affected organisations. We’ll keep monitoring that. At the moment, the impact is minimal.”
He continued: “We’re working with organisations identifying existing vulnerabilities in the UK and trying to get those closed before somebody exploits them.” It’s understood that no major supermarket chain has been directly hit by the cyber attack.
However, retailers are being advised to keep a close eye on their systems for potential threats and make sure their software is fully updated, while also having backup plans ready in case food supplies need to be moved elsewhere.
Graham Wynn, assistant director of regulatory affairs at the British Retail Consortium, said: “Retailers invest heavily in their cybersecurity and are currently working with the NCSC to ensure their fridges and freezers are secure as possible against potential attacks.” Rupert Ashby, chief executive of the British Frozen Food Federation, said retailers “across the supply chain are taking cyber security extremely seriously. Members are looking closely at their freezer provision and assessing how vulnerable their systems might be,” he said.
Organic fruit and vegetable wholesaler Langridge Organic had six of their 10 fridges compromised on Monday morning, managing director Alex Pearce told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, though no stock was affected.
He explained that manual checks on the fridges revealed some showing unusual temperatures and defrost settings, leading him to suspect a hack had occurred, prompting him to disconnect the Cat cable. “I reckon I caught them by luck right in the middle of it being hacked.
“Unplugging it stopped the other fridges and we were able to quite quickly … get into the menus and start resetting the settings, but there were six, or seven or eight parameters in each of the fridges which had been changed to make our lives a bit difficult on a Monday morning.”
NCSC chief Dr Richard Horne revealed that his teams worked through the night to warn British businesses vulnerable to similar strikes. It has since emerged that the cyberattack on French supermarket fridges exploited legacy technology connected to the internet with default passwords still in place.