Kremlin denies role in supermarket fridge hacks across Europe, calling claims absurd

The Kremlin's denial

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected any Russian role in the attacks on Thursday, 5 November, calling the accusations absurd. Asked about possible involvement of the Russian state, he said such claims had no argument and no evidence behind them. He added that accusing Russia of being behind everything was becoming a persistent trend in European countries. The remarks came in a daily telephone press conference, according to a Portuguese report, and Peskov said the claims were unfounded as always. Western security experts nonetheless count Russia among the main suspects, according to Der Tagesspiegel.

Scale of the attacks

In the weeks before 5 November, supermarket refrigeration and freezer systems were manipulated by hackers in at least ten European countries, Germany among them. Another tally lists incidents in twelve countries, including France, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden. Spoiled goods worth hundreds of millions of euros had to be thrown away. The European Commission described the campaign as a targeted attempt to disrupt the food supply and undermine consumer confidence. Industrial cooling units were long isolated from the internet, but are now connected so they can be monitored and steered remotely, which makes them vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Who is blamed

According to reports in the specialised press, two pro-Russian hacker groups, NoName057(16) and Z-Pentest, claimed the attacks, and both are already known for other operations in Europe. Xavier Bellekens, head of the cybersecurity firm Lupovis, told Politico that the indications pointed to a state-backed actor. The same report cited a study by the cyber defence firm Sekoia that linked similar earlier attacks to actors connected to Iran, although those attacks hit the United States and Israel. No one responsible has been formally identified. European countries have accused Russia of cyberattacks regularly since its offensive in Ukraine began in 2022, and in the months before 5 November they warned of a rise in Russian-backed sabotage.

France and blood stocks

On Monday, 2 November, cold rooms storing stocks from blood donations were hit through a refrigeration contractor of the Etablissement francais du sang, the French blood service. No health impact had been identified at that stage. On Wednesday, 4 November, the French health ministry said there were no public-health consequences because the alert systems had worked. In early November, supermarkets in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden also found a sharp rise in the temperature of their fridges and freezers, forcing them to discard spoiled food. RTBF notes a comparable episode in France in October.