The chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre has urged Brits to stockpile emergency supplies in the wake of supermarket cyberattacks.

Meat processing firms in the UK have been hit by cyberattacks after hackers targeted supermarket freezers across Europe.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said it is working with the firms affected and that the national impact is ‘minimal’ so far.

Paul Chichester, director of operations, said: ‘We’re aware of those incidents in the UK, and obviously we’re working with the affected organisations. We’ll keep monitoring that.

‘We’re working with organisations identifying existing vulnerabilities in the UK and trying to get those closed before somebody exploits them.’

The move by the UK’s intelligence and security agency came after supermarkets across the continent were hit by issues with freezers and fridges.

Earlier today, Dr Richard Horne, CEO of NCSC, part of GCHQ, admitted there were a couple of instances in the UK where ‘vulnerable technology has been exploited’ after the cyberattacks in Europe.

BBC pointed out that some freezers in the UK have been switched to defrost just after the similar cyberattacks in Europe.

Dr Horne added: ‘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 also reiterated warnings from the Defence Secretary, which urged people to stockpile necessities.

‘We saw criminal attacks last year impact retailers in the UK. We know it can happen, and we’ve seen it across Europe,’ he added.

The areas affected aren’t just supermarkets, he added, telling BBC Radio 4: ‘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.’

Earlier today, Security expert Will Geddes told Metro that the NCSC’s report citing a potential attack in two years underestimates the threat facing the UK.

‘AI-boosted attacks on critical national infrastructure could happen within the next two months,’ he admitted. ‘AI is being used in so many different ways.’

‘GCHQ is warning the UK to get a grip on this now because if we don’t, we’re going to find ourselves in a worse situation down the line. The threat is so great that we’ve got to tell the general public that although technology is simplifying our lives, we are becoming more reliant on it,’ Mr Geddes said.

‘Think about it – pick your partner and your two best friends; can you, off the top of your head, recount what their telephone numbers are?

‘We used to be able to. We’re so reliant on that technology that we don’t actually think: what would we do if that technology goes down?’

Read More: Brits warned to stockpile after cyberattack sees freezers switched to defrost mode