Kyiv's cyber chief: Attack on refrigeration systems was a simple operation

Marc Skogelin/TT 

Published 05:45 | Updated 08:14

        

       Oleksandr Voloshchuk, deputy head of cybersecurity defense in Kyiv, interviewed during a visit to             the Bahnhof data center "Pionen" in Stockholm. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT

The cyberattack targeting refrigerators and freezers in European grocery stores is a familiar scenario in Kyiv, following four years of full-scale war with Russia.

The attack was simple, and it is highly likely that AI was used, according to Oleksandr Voloshchuk, deputy head of cybersecurity defense in the Ukrainian capital.

“This demonstrates that cyberattacks can also have an impact on the physical world.”

The cyberattack that occurred on Monday night affected several European countries, including Sweden, where the refrigeration and freezing units in Coop and ICA stores were heated up, forcing the disposal of food.

Similar attempted attacks have also occurred in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv; however, the impact there has been less severe because fewer refrigerators and freezers are connected to the internet.

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Oleksandr Voloshchuk, from the municipal company Kyivteleservice, works to protect the city's digital infrastructure.

"If you connect freezers to the internet, you must also protect them. Based on what we have observed from this attack, many of the systems had not been updated," Voloshchuk told TT during a visit to the Bahnhof data center "Pionen" in Stockholm.

It is highly likely that those behind the attacks used AI to identify vulnerabilities, he says. "It's an uncomplicated attack. And since many entities use the same provider, finding a single vulnerability is enough."

For all its simplicity, the "freezer attack" serves as a clear example of how digital assaults can have a direct impact on the physical world, he says.

“You could shut down roads, alter traffic lights, turn a freezer into a microwave oven—and so on.”

Built from the ground up

Oleksandr Voloshchuk leads the Security Operations Center (SOC) established in the capital following Russia's major escalation of its invasion in February 2022. When the full-scale Russian offensive began, Voloshchuk and his colleagues had to start from scratch, gradually building a system designed to detect threats to the city's digital infrastructure and defend it against Russian cyberattacks.

The center should have been in place before the war, Voloshchuk notes.

"If you aren't prepared beforehand, dealing with it once a war breaks out becomes a massive challenge."

According to Voloshchuk, Russian cyberattacks have not yet succeeded in critically damaging Kyiv's digital infrastructure. Recently, however, a new type of attack has begun targeting the capital.

"Over the last month or two, we've seen many attacks that utilize AI in their initial stages. We assess that Russia has gained access to AI models from China; this will pose a challenge for us, and it is something we are preparing for."