The European Commission has warned this Wednesday that the recent cyberattacks directed against the refrigeration systems of supermarkets and food banks in several member states should be interpreted as a “wake-up call” about the fragility of the European Union’s critical infrastructure. At the same time, it has urged the Twenty-Seven and the European Parliament to strengthen the Community protection mechanisms to prevent this type of incident from happening again in the future.
“Although the attacks did not cause significant consequences for food safety or public health, they should serve as a wake-up call for everyone,” said Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s executive vice president for Technological Sovereignty, during a debate in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels in which the latest cyberattacks against European supermarket chains were analyzed.
The commissioner explained that these episodes—linked by France to Iran—have shown that the danger of “foreign actors” generating disruptions in the European Union’s critical infrastructure “is real.” For this reason, she stressed that the EU “cannot afford to maintain dependencies or strategic weaknesses” that leave its essential infrastructure “exposed to unacceptable risks.”
“For example, we cannot allow risks of foreign interference, espionage, or disruptions in our supply chains for the most critical information and communication technologies,” she added, emphasizing that this “is particularly relevant” for communications infrastructure, including 5G networks.
As she stressed, these networks “are increasingly important” for ensuring “reliable and ultrafast” connectivity, as well as for facilitating the exchange of data and information, the detection of drones, and real-time operational coordination across the entire Union.
Along these lines, the Commission vice president urged accelerating the removal of providers classified as “high risk”—such as the Chinese companies Huawei or ZTE—from European telecommunications networks. In her view, member states must show much greater firmness when it comes to reducing their technological dependence on third countries.
"The time for hesitations is over. We have to be much more decisive and ambitious, including when it comes to setting clear deadlines to progressively eliminate high-risk suppliers," Virkkunen has argued, warning that, if Europe does not act quickly, it could carry these same dependencies over to the future 6G networks.
Economic impact and cybersecurity failures
On the other hand, Virkkunen has pointed out that the recent attacks on the cooling systems of European supermarkets and food banks have generated economic losses estimated at "tens or even hundreds of millions of euros." He has also emphasized that a significant portion of industrial devices continues to be connected to the Internet with weak passwords or outdated software.
"If these requirements had been fully transposed and applied effectively, some of these incidents could have been avoided or their impact could have been significantly reduced," he has maintained, referring to the security obligations set out in the Cyber Solidarity Act and in the NIS2 Directive.
Therefore, he has reiterated that the challenge for the European Union "is not only about developing new policies and new instruments," but about ensuring that the rules already in force "are translated into real security on the ground." At the same time, he has called for an укрепment of the resources of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) in order to tackle emerging threats with greater guarantees.