UK meat processing industry hit by cyberattacks, security official says

Impact of attacks described to be minimal as authorities work with affected businesses

Cyberattacks have affected the UK meat processing industry, although the impact has been minimal, a senior National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) official said on Tuesday. Paul Chichester, the NCSC’s director of operations, said the organisation was working with the businesses affected following cyber incidents targeting the sector. His remarks came amid a series of cyberattacks on supermarkets across Europe, including in Ireland and France, where hackers targeted refrigeration systems, causing temperatures in fridges and freezers to rise and food to spoil. Speaking at the launch of the NCSC’s annual report, the agency’s director, Richard Horne, said the attack in France involved legacy technology connected to the internet and protected by default passwords. Horne told reporters after his speech that Britain’s intelligence agency GCHQ had been working through the night to contact UK organizations vulnerable to similar attacks, according to a report by Sky News. On Monday, suspected cyberattacks targeting refrigeration systems affected food businesses across eight European countries, causing food losses and prompting a criminal investigation in Belgium. Incidents were reported in Sweden, Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark, while Finnish retailers were investigating whether overnight temperature irregularities were linked.