Successive cyberattacks, bomb threats targeting passenger flights, civil unrest, and suspected acts of vandalism have occurred across Europe. These incidents have raised questions about Europe's resilience and whether it is prepared to withstand modern security threats.

Last week, hackers remotely controlled the refrigeration systems of several supermarkets in Europe, forcing retailers to discard spoiled food and exposing the vulnerabilities in their daily infrastructure.

Subsequently, the refrigeration systems of French blood banks also suffered similar attacks; at the same time, a wave of suspected false bomb threats disrupted dozens of flights across the European continent, forcing flights to change routes, and in some cases, fighter jets were required for escort.

At the end of this week, European news organizations also received bomb threats, including Sky News in the UK ( Sky News ) and Ireland's public broadcasting service RT É.

At the time these incidents occurred, geopolitical tensions intensified in some parts of Europe, and domestic unrest continued, making civilian infrastructure an increasingly likely target for hostile actors.

Although authorities have not yet identified the perpetrators behind these attacks, nor confirmed whether they are interconnected, defense and security experts warn that disruptions to daily services could have consequences far beyond direct economic losses.

A researcher from the Royal United Services Institute ( RUSI ) in the UK, Sidharth Kaushal, stated that if Russia is responsible for these attacks, they may be intended to demonstrate the cost that Europe will face for continuing to support Ukraine.

Kaushal to CNBC means: 'I think this is more about imposing a cost. To convince the European political leadership that the price of war will come back to them.'

Russia did not immediately respond to the request for a comment on CNBC.

Cyber attacks

On Monday, supermarkets in Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, and the Netherlands discovered that their refrigeration systems had been set to a maximum temperature of 50 degrees Celsius, which is 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Retailers affected included Ahold Delhaize, IKEA, Colruyt Group, and Carrefour.

Previously, in October, a cyberattack targeting hundreds of supermarkets in France occurred, resulting in fires, overheated freezers, and spoiled food. These incidents highlighted the vulnerability of the food supply infrastructure.

They also highlight the role of private companies in national resilience, as connected devices could be exploited to create disruptions at the physical level.

Cybersecurity expert and associate professor at Stockholm University, Fredrik Blix, stated to CNBC that the technical barriers required for these supermarket attacks are very low, as the vulnerable refrigeration control systems are directly connected to the public internet, allowing attackers to easily discover and exploit them.

He said, "In fact, implementing these attacks doesn't require any particularly advanced knowledge." He added that some systems are protected only with default passwords or easily guessable credentials.

Blix said, "This is why the cost of such attacks is so low." He warned that the exposure surrounding these incidents could encourage imitative attacks. "Anyone can do it, and it doesn't require any national-level resources or anything like that."

Blix says that as society becomes increasingly digital, vulnerable systems are more accessible, and cyberattacks have become more common over the past decade. However, he points out that rising geopolitical tensions have also made European countries more alert to the threat of potential hybrid wars, with both governments and the media stepping up their scrutiny.

Although Blix acknowledges that there may be countries or state-backed actors behind these attacks, he believes that it is more likely that someone is testing the boundaries, or even "looking for a bit of fun."

Kaushal says that these incidents should be viewed within the broader context of suspected sabotage and hybrid threats in Europe, which includes damage to submarine cables in the Baltic Sea.

He said, "If this were an isolated incident, people might say, 'Well, we should just view it as such.' But when you consider it in the context of all these other events, it becomes less clear." He also mentioned death threats directed at European defense officials, as well as the incident in 2024 where a bomb was placed on a DHL aircraft.

Can Europe protect itself?

After decades of insufficient defense investment, European governments are facing an increasingly uncertain security landscape provided by the United States, while also having to deal with rising threats that are unconventional but potentially capable of causing severe damage.

Hybrid warfare combines tactics such as cyberattacks, sabotage, and disinformation to weaken opponents without provoking open military conflicts.

Kaushal indicates that the capabilities of various countries to withstand hybrid threats vary greatly across the European continent. Finland and Sweden have relatively mature civil defense systems, which reflect their experiences during the Cold War; whereas most of Europe's infrastructure is designed with economic efficiency in mind, rather than defensive needs.

He said, "The further west in Europe you go, the lower the level of preparedness is, whether it comes to dealing with hybrid attacks or simple missile strikes like those we saw in Ukraine."

He also said, "Each attack brings a slight increase in resilience." He mentioned that after the Nord Stream pipeline was damaged in 2022, NATO has become more attentive to the threats posed to submarine cables and natural gas pipelines.

RUSI Senior researcher and expert on European security issues, Oana Popescu - Zamfir stated that recent events indicate that Europe is lagging behind in preparing for something that we have long known was coming.

She said, "We are adapting to the new reality too slowly. We are still accustomed to conceiving peace and war as separate entities, but that is no longer the case. We are not in a state of war, yet we are also not in a period of peace."

She stated that Europe is likely to face continuous hybrid attacks, which are aimed at achieving military objectives without resorting to conventional military forces.

Popescu-Zamfir says that Russia can rely on an agent network within Europe; some of these agents are directly under its control, while others are only loosely coordinated. As a result, it is difficult to directly attribute responsibility to the Kremlin.

She stated to CNBC that targeted attacks on networked systems "can cause tremendous damage," and provided examples of how databases could be disrupted as a result.

She said that these attacks are “not a piece of cake for Russia, but they’re not rocket science either,” and that they can cause “huge damage, both in terms of the specific harm inflicted and in terms of the impact on our society’s psychology and the feeling that ‘we are not protected.’”

Blix indicates that companies can take relatively simple measures to reduce their risk exposure.

He said, "These are all basic network hygiene measures... Industrial control systems and such operational technologies should not be allowed to connect directly to the internet without proper security protections in place."

Responsibility is dispersed among product manufacturers, maintenance service providers, and supermarket chains; therefore, when each party shifts blame to one another, it becomes unclear who is truly responsible.

Blix said that sometimes, for convenience, maintenance companies enable remote access in violation of the manufacturer's safety recommendations, and retailers may not enforce strict enough cybersecurity standards with their suppliers.

"What worries me is that we haven't actually taken any real action," he said. He added that everyone has been "organizing a lot of documents" and "conducting many risk assessments," but no meaningful actions have been taken.

Economic pressure

In recent months, widespread riots have also occurred in Europe, putting pressure on the political level as families struggle with high living costs.

The President and Policy Director of the Center for International Security and Economic Strategy, Alexander Anderson, stated that domestic political and economic tensions could also provide opportunities for foreign adversaries to deepen divisions.

He stated regarding CNBC, that the actions influenced by Russia and possibly China could potentially exacerbate these divisions.

"But we should also be cautious not to simply regard legitimate domestic dissatisfaction as a product of foreign intervention," he said, "otherwise, we will misinterpret the causes of political instability and the ways in which hostile actors attempt to exploit this instability."

Protests, riots, and strikes that lasted for weeks across France have increased pressure on the French government, made its efforts to control public finances more complex, and deepened existing political divisions.

In Spain, demonstrations over the housing crisis and a deadlock in parliament prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez ( Pedro Sanchez ) to announce early general elections. The voting is scheduled for November 29th. The far-right party Vox is expected to make progress, which could put Sánchez's left-leaning government at risk of losing power.

In recent weeks, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Albania have also seen riots due to rising living costs.

Reuters reported that last Friday, protesters in Amsterdam attempted to enter a Microsoft data center.

At the same time, high energy prices, persistent inflation, weak growth, and huge budget deficits are driving up borrowing costs, making it more difficult for governments around the world to support families in distress.