It’s been an eventful week, as hackers meddled with cooling systems across the Netherlands and bomb threats disrupted flights in the EU. Now, intelligence experts think they know who’s behind the chaos.
At least 17 Dutch businesses had the temperatures on their fridges and freezers changed remotely on the night of November 1. Various shops across Belgium, Luxembourg, and Sweden were also affected, reports NPO Radio 1.
According to experts Tim Bosch and Hugo Vijver, who both previously worked for the AIVD (the Dutch intelligence service), the Kremlin could very well be behind the attacks.
Russia is a major suspect
The Kremlin staunchly denies involvement, branding the allegations “absurd”. However, many experts are less than convinced.
As Xavier Bellekens, CEO of cybersecurity firm Lupovis, tells POLITICO, several clues point to a “Russian state-sponsored threat actor”.
Dutch experts are in agreement. “You can see the duck in every contour here,” Bosch tells NU.nl. To him, the hacks on various cooling systems, combined with the bomb hoaxes aboard EU aircraft, fit an established pattern.
“It has actually been quiet for a while regarding Russian hacking operations, but this is exactly what they are capable of and what they are already doing,” Vijver adds, in conversation with NU.nl.
The BBC also reports that Russian hacktivist groups Noname057(16) and Z-Pentest Alliance posted about successfully hacking Danfoss, a Danish multinational that provides refridgeration and cooling systems. Speculation has arisen that they might be responsible for the Netherlands’ cooling hack, too.
Why would Russia hack cooling systems?
“Russia thinks: I can only become stronger if my opponent becomes weaker,” Vijver states. In his view, the primary goal of Russian sabotage is to weaken Europe by disabling critical infrastructure.
While freezer systems may not seem critical, experts warn that the hacks expose dangerous vulnerabilities in EU systems.
“They are looking into where the weaknesses in the systems lie,” says Bosch. “Right now it concerns refrigeration, but next time it might be a hospital.”
Dutch intelligence has already sounded the alarm about this. In a joint report this February, the AIVD and the MIVD (Dutch military intelligence service) warned that Russian sabotage could cause real harm to the Netherlands.
Hybrid warfare is already waging
According to French cyber-defence firm Sekoia, they noticed scanning activity before the second wave of cyber attacks.
“The victims are spread across Europe and the US, with a particular focus on Ukraine, which is consistent with Russian interests,” Sekoia writes. “We observed the compromise of a far right Czech movement website that matches the intrusion set’s history of targeting European political parties.”
However, as yet, nothing is confirmed.
“To date, we have no technical evidence indicating the involvement of Russian-speaking groups,” a Sekoia spokesperson confirms to BBC. “Furthermore, as NoName057 is not known to effectively conduct operations beyond DDoS attacks and has a history of making false attributions, we remain sceptical of their alleged claim of responsibility.”
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