Cyber incidents rise as UK agency warns of more attacks

Several recent cyber incidents have raised concern among security officials in the UK and across Europe. According to the Guardian, retailers in at least seven European countries reported fridge and freezer faults on the same day. In some shops, temperatures in refrigeration units rose as high as 50C (122F). The problems were traced to attacks on the companies that supply control systems for commercial cooling equipment.

The Guardian also reported two other major incidents in late October and early November. On 30 October, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance was robbed of $6.3bn (£4.7bn) in what was described as a record heist. A day later, on 1 November, hackers targeted Ukraine’s emergency alert app and sent people in Kyiv a false nuclear strike warning. The Guardian reports that the Binance hack has been linked to North Korea, while Russia is seen as a likely suspect in the Ukraine case. These links have not been formally confirmed.

Read also: Cyber-attacks on fridges hit UK food suppliers

Officials warn of a rise in incidents

Richard Horne, head of the National Cyber Security Centre, said the UK is at an early stage of a new hacking environment. He said there are many weaknesses in IT systems that could be exploited, and that AI tools are helping to expose them. In his view, the most serious short-term risk is a large increase in the number of incidents. The NCSC has also said that AI-powered malicious software is highly likely to be used against UK power stations, airports and hospitals by 2028.

AI is also linked to a recent flaw in PHP, a computer language widely used to build websites. The Guardian reports that AI technology from OpenAI helped find the flaw last month, and that some websites were briefly taken offline as a precaution. Sophos, a cybersecurity firm, said it had not seen major incidents among its clients linked to the flaw. It did report a large number of attempts to exploit it.

The NCSC’s director of operations, Paul Chichester, said the fridge attackers did not need AI to find their targets. Some of the weaknesses were already known, including default access passwords printed in one fridge company’s manuals. Ciaran Martin, the first chief executive of the NCSC, rejected the idea that the world is facing a unique moment. He pointed to the NotPetya and WannaCry attacks in 2017 and a rise in ransomware in 2021 as earlier examples of similar waves.

Why flaws are not turning into breaches

Since April, when the AI company Anthropic released its Mythos model, the number of vulnerabilities found by major technology firms has reportedly risen eight-fold. However, attacks have not grown at the same rate. The cybersecurity expert Tal Be’ery has suggested that criminal hackers may be finding it hard to profit from these flaws, as ransomware revenues have fallen recently.

Danfoss, a Danish company whose systems were involved, said most of the faulty units were outdated and had stopped getting security patches. The company said it had long advised customers to install updates or replace outdated software. The NCSC has noted that internet-connected devices, from smart speakers to broadband routers, can also be vulnerable. Ollie Whitehouse, the NCSC’s chief technology officer, argued that device makers must put more effort into security, while buyers should accept higher prices for sturdier products and keep them updated.

Concern over state-linked threats

Geopolitics is another factor behind the warnings. Russia’s hybrid campaign against Europe has made the so-called grey zone of cyber conflict a major concern. Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, said the UK must prepare for what he called state-sponsored terrorism against everyday infrastructure. The government’s Be Ready campaign, launched last month, advises households to store a three-day supply of groceries and as much as nine litres of water in case of a crisis.

Xavier Bellekens, chief executive of the cybersecurity firm Lupovis, said his company set up decoy systems, known as honeypots, using the same fridge controllers that were targeted. He said some techniques used by the attackers resembled those linked to Russian groups. He added that the group cannot yet be certain of who was responsible.

Finland, which shares a 1,340km border with Russia, offers a view of longer trends. According to the Guardian, cases logged by Finland’s cyber authority reached close to 21,000 last year, versus roughly 13,000 in 2022. Officials said hackers had recently compromised up to 50,000 government mobile phones. Experts in Finland said the fridge attacks did not come as a surprise.

For now, the NCSC says the main lesson is the need for greater care with connected devices. Fridge owner Alex Pearce said his monitoring system, made by the US firm Copeland, would need updating. He said the lesson was clear, though the impact on his business had not been severe.

Related: UK cyber agency warns AI malware could hit critical infrastructure by 2028

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• The Guardian: Hot fridges, a fake nuclear alert and a $6bn heist: are we in the foothills of a hacking epidemic?

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