UK meat suppliers have been affected by cyber-attacks after hackers raised the temperatures of supermarket refrigeration systems in several European countries. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said it was working with the affected UK businesses and that the impact nationally remained minimal. No UK grocery chain has been directly affected so far.

The British Association of Independent Meat Suppliers said some of its more than 300 members had experienced problems. One company’s cold units reportedly heated to as high as 100C, while two others said their units had begun to defrost. The association said the affected units were empty, so no produce was lost.

Retailers in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden reported refrigeration problems on Monday, with some systems reaching 50C. Several companies confirmed they had been hacked. Similar incidents were reported in France last month, where legacy equipment connected to the internet with default passwords was involved.

NCSC operations director Paul Chichester said the centre was working with affected organisations and monitoring the situation. He said the attacks were not AI-enabled and used vulnerabilities that had been known for a long time. The NCSC is helping companies identify and close similar security gaps before they can be exploited.

Cybersecurity researchers found that attempts against online decoy controls for Danfoss fridges resembled activity previously associated with Russian-linked operations. Lupovis chief executive Xavier Bellekens said the company recorded 256 attempted attacks from 91 sources between 20 and 30 October using online traps designed to resemble real refrigeration controllers. The attackers’ identities remain unknown, though many attempts used publicly documented factory-default credentials.

NCSC chief executive Richard Horne described the incidents as the “foothills” of a broader cyberthreat, warning that vulnerabilities in IT networks could be exposed or left unpatched. The agency’s chief technology officer, Ollie Whitehouse, said internet-connected household devices could also be vulnerable in some circumstances and called for safer products from manufacturers and greater willingness among consumers to pay for them.

Sources: The Guardian Business.