After fridge hacks, home appliances could be next, warns EU cyber chief
Summary
Juhan Lepassaar, executive director of the EU cybersecurity agency ENISA, warned in Brussels on Tuesday that home appliances could be targeted after cyberattacks hit supermarket fridges across Europe. He urged manufacturers to build security into products and called for greater investment in cybersecurity. Lepassaar said attacks on digital services could disrupt essential services, including police, fire, hospitals and transport. He welcomed EU cyber rules due to take full effect next year and plans to double ENISA’s size and resources.
Key Facts
- Supermarkets in at least 12 European countries were hit by cyberattacks in October and November, with France the worst affected.
- Hundreds of French supermarkets were attacked on October 11 and 12, raising refrigerator and freezer temperatures and forcing stores to discard perishable food.
- Lepassaar said Iranian and Russian state-aligned actors were known to target Europe, and also named China and North Korea among state-aligned threats.
- Lepassaar said the planned expansion of ENISA and its resources would be a first good step, though he said it would never be enough.
Shopping carts with food that is spoiled or risks being spoiled are pictured after freezers and fridges were emptied at the ICA Kvantum supermarket in Sjoebo, Sweden on Nov. 2 after a hacker attack raised the temperature in the freezers to 50 degrees Celcius. AFP-Yonhap
BRUSSELS — After recent attacks on supermarket fridges, home appliances could be next, the EU's cyber chief told AFP on Tuesday, as he urged Europe to invest more to counter growing cyber threats.
Supermarkets in at least 12 European countries were hit by cyberattacks in October and November, with France the worst affected.
"Security should not and cannot be an afterthought," Juhan Lepassaar, executive director of the EU's cybersecurity agency ENISA, said.
"Today it was fridges, tomorrow it could be routers, the day after tomorrow it could be home appliances and so forth."
Lepassaar spoke to AFP in Brussels where he unveiled the Athens-based agency's latest biennial report on the state of the EU's cybersecurity.
"All incidents can be avoided, but the question is, are we ready to invest to make it happen? Cybersecurity is not cheap," he said, calling on manufacturers to make products that are secure "by design."
Cybersecurity is crucial, Lepassaar said, because "every single service that you are depending on as a citizen, as a human being, contains a layer whereby there is a digital element in it, a piece of code which if not protected can be hacked."
A worst-case scenario would mean losing services "you depend upon: the policemen arriving, the fire brigade arriving, the hospital functioning, the transport giving you a ride from point A to B."
"These are the things that we depend on to function well and 24-7," he explained. "And if they don't, we will have an immediate impact."
Hundreds of French supermarkets were hit in cyberattacks on October 11 and 12, which raised the temperatures in their refrigerators and freezers, forcing many to throw away entire inventories of perishable food.
France on Monday said it held Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for the cyberattacks on supermarkets.
Lepassaar would not comment directly on France's accusation, but said Iranian and Russian "state-aligned actors" were known to target Europe.
He pointed to "a lot of collaboration" between them.
"China, Iran, People's Republic of North Korea, there are a lot of state-aligned threat actors which do target European companies and European interests," Lepassaar said.
He welcomed EU cyber rules that will fully enter into force next year, and the bloc's plans to "double the size of ENISA and also its resources."
It would "never" be enough, he said, "but it is a first good step."
Explore More
- Q.
- Q.
- Q.