The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed that it has launched a criminal investigation into the cyberattack on the refrigeration systems of various supermarkets on Monday.
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Belgian prosecutors launch investigation into supermarket cyberattack
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VRT News understands the issue affected at least 40 Delhaize stores, around 15 Carrefour stores and, at Spar – part of the Colruyt Group – five stores so far. In Wallonia and Brussels, 10 to 15 Intermarché stores were affected.
Cybersecurity Centre: “Difficult to determine hackers’ motives”
“In the past it has become clear that it is difficult to determine why hackers carry out cyberattacks” says Miguel De Bruycker, director of the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB).
According to De Bruycker, there are three types of hackers: “You have criminals who do it for the money, and you have hackers who act in the interests of a state – for example, to spread disinformation. Finally, there are the hacktivists, who try to attract attention because they are dissatisfied with certain social developments.” It is not yet clear which category the recent cyber-attack falls into.
Hackers targeted supermarkets in their latest attack, but what will be the next target? “For a very long time, the blind spots were in the financial sector, but now we’re also seeing major concerns in other sectors. Just think of the transport or telecoms sectors. Imagine if they suddenly brought the internet to a standstill or took control of certain telephone connections” De Bruycker suggests.