A cyberattack on French grocery stores Sunday that resulted in large quantities of food being destroyed is also a warning sign for Estonia, cybersecurity experts say.
Hundreds of grocery stores in France were hit by a cyberattack on Sunday when hackers raised the temperature of refrigerators to as high as 50 degrees Celsius. As a result, large quantities of food were spoiled, causing financial losses for the stores. Estonia must also be prepared for a similar threat.
"Things like this can happen and the threat is very real. Fortunately, Estonia has not experienced a problem like the one in France, at least to my knowledge. But that does not mean something similar could not happen at some point because of mistakes or poor cyber hygiene," said Toomas Lepik, a cybersecurity analyst at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech).
Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa Pakosta, who is attending a cybersecurity conference in Singapore, described the incident in France as shocking. She said society must adapt to the reality that cyberattacks are no longer limited to computers and information systems. At the same time, Pakosta said Estonia has some of the strictest cybersecurity requirements in the world.
"We have particularly strict cybersecurity requirements for companies providing vital services, including those responsible for food security, and these requirements must be met. Companies need to ensure their software is up to date, that systems are properly connected and that they are not accessible to just anyone passing by. As for how much companies in Estonia, such as grocery stores, have done to mitigate this risk, all I can say is that larger companies responsible for food security are required to undergo audits," Pakosta said.
However, these requirements do not apply to all grocery stores. Pakosta added that both the government and businesses need to invest more in cybersecurity to ensure their systems are secure.
"On the one hand, we face financially motivated cyberattacks, but we also face attacks directed against our country or society as a whole. As a digital nation, we all need to pay much more attention to this," she said.
Estonian supermarket chain Selver is also closely monitoring the incident in France to prevent a similar situation at its stores. It remains unclear who was behind the cyberattack in France and whether a ransom demand will follow.
"I can confirm that Selver has not experienced any incidents of this kind. We are doing everything we can to ensure that it never happens. I believe every company and every retail chain has its own strict rules and systems governing how these things work. Overall, I believe we are well protected against this kind of threat," said Selver communications manager Mariann Järvela.
Järvela added that the consequences of the incident in France are not significantly different from those of a power outage, a scenario for which the supermarket chain already conducts emergency preparedness exercises.
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