After France's supermarket fridge hack, EU’s cyber chief warns home appliances could be next targets

Days after cyberattacks in France targeting supermarket fridges, the EU’s cyber chief warned on Tuesday (November 10) that home appliances could be next in the attack, urging European nations to invest more to counter growing cyber threats. Between October and November, at least 12 European countries were hit by cyberattacks, with France becoming the worst affected nation.

Juhan Lepassaar, executive director of the EU’s cybersecurity agency, ENISA, told AFP, "Security should not and cannot be an afterthought." "Today, it was fridges, tomorrow it could be routers, the day after tomorrow it could be home appliances and so forth," he added.

“All incidents can be avoided, but the question is, are we ready to invest to make it happen? Cybersecurity is not cheap,” he also said, directing manufacturers to make products that are secure “by design”.

Digitally empowered services susceptible to hacking

Lepassaar said cybersecurity is crucial, noting that every single service upon which humans are dependent and are digitally empowered is vulnerable to hacking. He added that a worst-case scenario would mean loss of services citizens depend on, including police response, the fire brigade, the functioning of the hospital, and transport, which gives people a ride to move 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," he further added.

Following the attack, France has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of orchestrating cyberattacks that struck hundreds of French supermarkets on October 11-12. The attacks tampered with refrigeration and freezer systems, causing temperatures to spike and forcing many stores to discard large amounts of spoiled perishable goods. The attribution was made public on November 9.