Cybersecurity boss warns some UK food firms also hit by European freezer hack as meat suppliers forced to throw out tonnes of produce

British food firms have fallen victim to a major cyber-attack that targeted freezers in supermarkets across Europe, a top security chief has warned. At least seven European countries have been hit by suspected cyber-terrorists, who raised temperatures in chillers to as high as 55C (131F), ruining tonnes of meat. Dr Richard Horne, head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – which is part of GCHQ – claimed 'vulnerable technology' in the UK had been 'exploited' during the hack. Security sources have told the Daily Mail that only a small number of companies in the UK had been affected. Asked about the impact on the UK, Dr Horne said: 'We don't know the full impact, but we can see there are a couple of instances where vulnerable technology has been exploited, and we will be working with those organisations to understand more.'He added it was 'too early for us to say' or to 'give a definitive answer' about who was behind the cyber-hack. Dozens of shops in Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Luxembourg and Estonia have already been targeted – just weeks after hackers turned up the temperatures of cooling units in hundreds of French grocery stores. The latest hack involved fridges manufactured by Belgian firm Sabcobel. The company said units' evaporators were switched to defrost mode, causing temperatures to spike from -27C to 50C in some cases. Dr Richard Horne, head of the National Cyber Security Centre, said UK firms had been affected by the European supermarket freezer hack Employees had to throw away bags of spoiled food at an ICA supermarket in SwedenIt is similar to the method used in last month's attack on French supermarkets, which led to millions of euros’ worth of food being thrown away and even caused some small fires.The French hacks affected fridges supplied by Danfoss, which also works with British supermarkets including Tesco and Sainsbury’s.Around 40 Delhaize and Colruyt supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg were hit, along with 15 Carrefour stores.Tony Goodger, of the British group Association of Independent Meat Suppliers, claimed that a few of his 300 members had 'unexpectedly become collateral' during the European hack. Dr Horne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It's not just supermarkets, it's through the whole food supply chain, and we've been working through the night alerting organisations where we can see they've got exposed technology that's vulnerable in this way.'So there are handfuls of organisations in the UK we've alerted and we're aware of a couple of impacts.'An NCSC official told the Daily Mail: 'We are aware of a small number of UK organisations that may be affected by this incident as a result of vulnerabilities on their systems, and the NCSC is supporting those that may be impacted.'We continue to liaise with our international partners and the affected sectors to understand and mitigate its impact.'News of the incident came as Dr Horne warned in a speech on Tuesday that Britain was facing a moment of 'enormous consequence' for cyber-security. An employee cleans fridges which had been hacked at an ICA store in Stockholm, SwedenThe UK has got away with doing 'tech on the cheap' for decades, he said, as the NCSC's annual report suggests Britain faced being bombarded by AI-boosted attacks on critical national infrastructure in the next two years.Hackers demanding ransom payments are 'highly likely' to use AI to target the UK by 2028 and hostile states such as Russia and China will routinely use the technology to pursue their goals by then, the report found.In a speech launching the report on Tuesday, Dr Horne said: 'It is clear that our nation is living through a moment that, in hindsight, we will see as one of enormous consequence.'A "sliding doors" moment. A moment of choice. In the coming months, we face a real prospect of an unprecedented rise in the number of cyber-incidents.'But we must be clear that is not because AI has invented new ways to attack us, but because vulnerabilities that have been tolerated for far too long can now be discovered and exploited at a scale that was once unimaginable.'His intervention came just days after Defence Secretary Wes Streeting warned Britain must be ready for war in the next 1,000 days. At the same time, the Government launched a new resilience drive, urging Britons to stockpile enough food and water for three days. During his speech, Dr Horne said: 'For decades, we have collectively got away with doing tech on the cheap.'End-of-life systems kept running for just one more year, well-needed upgrades pushed back as a "cost efficiency", and technology providers failing to invest in security by design and default.'The NCSC annual report said its incident management team received 1,831 reports this year of cyber-attacks, of which 337 required support and 80 were nationally significant.The team also warned 8,500 organisations when their systems had been compromised by attackers, the report added.Almost half of small firms in the UK (46 per cent) have been targeted by cyber criminals in the past year, with nearly one in five (18 per cent) going bankrupt following a cyber attack, according to research by Mastercard. The study, released on Tuesday, added that more than three in five small to medium-sized companies - about 3.4million - in the UK did not use any cyber security tools.