Germany is preparing a legal framework for cyberattack responses after supermarket refrigeration systems were targeted in several European countries, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Wednesday at a conference in Berlin.
Dobrindt spoke at the annual conference of Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office. He said the framework was being established to enable Germany to respond in cyberspace, and that he was prepared to put the measures into effect.
He described the supermarket incidents as a "next-level" hybrid attack and said Germany's response should leave hybrid actors facing greater consequences, while increasing the risk and cost of carrying out such operations.
The targeted refrigeration and freezer systems were in Germany, France and other European countries, Anadolu Ajansı reported. The attacks on critical infrastructure also included industrial operations, public services, rail networks and airports. France has publicly blamed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for the supermarket refrigeration attacks; Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said he was able to confirm that responsibility for the act lay with the Revolutionary Guard.
Dobrindt identified Russia as the main actor behind hybrid threats and said Iran and North Korea were also sources of such attacks. European officials have increasingly pointed to Russia's shadow campaign against countries supporting Ukraine, as well as cyber operations attributed to Iran.
The incidents are part of a wider wave of disruption across Europe. Between November 2 and 6, more than 50 passenger flights across Europe faced bomb threats, resulting in grounded aircraft, diverted planes and scrambled fighter jets. On November 11, around 6,300 schools in Italy received threatening emails and were evacuated, with similar hoax emails reported in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Bomb threats also forced evacuations at broadcasters including RTE, Newstalk and the Irish Independent in Ireland, Nova in Bulgaria and Sky News in London.
