Businesses face ‘sharpened scrutiny’ on cyber policies after fridge hacks

Insurance underwriters will scrutinise businesses technology more closely when pricing future cyber policies following the wave of recent cyberattacks on European supermarkets. The attacks, which forced retailers in Sweden, Belgium, and Ireland to throw away large quantities of fresh and frozen food after refrigeration systems were switched into defrost mode, and affected a wave of British food suppliers, prompted warnings that outdated technology is leaving the UK’s food supply chain exposed. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) confirmed on Tuesday that vulnerable refrigeration technology had been exploited in a small number of incidents in Britain, after hackers remotely manipulated supermarket fridge temperatures across several European countries. Eddie Lamb, global head of cyber at specialist insurance firm Hiscox, told City AM the firm expects events like this will sharpen underwriting scrutiny of operational technology businesses are using. “It isn t necessar