A week of cyberattacks and bomb threats: What do we know?
With threats disrupting flights and newsrooms, and hackers targeting supermarkets, what do we know about this week's incidents - and how can investigators establish who was responsible?
On Friday, an email was sent to media organizations in Ireland and the UK, claiming responsibility for bomb threats that disrupted flights and caused evacuations at newsrooms. The email displayed a sender address associated with a Lithuanian school, but cybersecurity researcher Maciej Makowski found that credentials linked to the email had been involved in previous data breaches. RTÉ is investigating the possibility of unauthorised access to the legitimate account.
The week's cyber incidents also included supermarket refrigeration systems being hacked, disrupting chilled and frozen produce sales in Ireland and several European countries. The National Cyber Security Centre confirmed that Danfoss and Copeland/Dixell refrigeration controllers were compromised. Pro-Russian hacking groups claimed responsibility, but Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed Russian involvement.
Additionally, seven European flights were targeted with bomb threats, including Ryanair flights from Dublin to Rome and Sofia, which landed safely after being searched. A further 27 flights were disrupted across Europe, with many threats arriving via email from anonymous sources.
Written by urgent.news from RTE News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
