The UK is sending troops abroad to counter cyberattacks on refrigeration equipment in European countries. The deployments involve operations to identify and neutralise hackers who may target critical systems.
Mike Fyers, commander of the UK Ministry of Defence’s Cyber and Electromagnetic Forces, said this in an interview with The Times, The Telegraph reports.
According to Fyers, British troops are arriving in European countries to identify adversaries before they attack the UK’s military systems. Such missions are carried out with the consent of the host countries. Operations may take place on land, on boats, on ships or on aircraft, and may be directed against both state officials and cybercriminals.
The commander also stressed the growing threats posed by the use of artificial intelligence. He said that where there used to be a few days to fix vulnerabilities in systems, responses now have to come within minutes.
Fyers added that British troops will also counter Russian hackers who may be suspected of organising such attacks in Europe.
- One recent case was a cyberattack in France on the night of 12 October. Hackers remotely triggered a continuous defrost cycle in refrigeration equipment in hundreds of supermarkets. Temperatures in the units reached 50°C, causing fresh and frozen products to spoil.
- On 5 November, a similar incident happened again in France. Hackers broke into French blood banks. In three refrigerated warehouses, temperature and defrost thresholds were raised to a "very high level".