Hacking epidemic concerns rise amid major cyberattacks
The gist
Hackers forced supermarket cooling units into defrost mode across seven European countries, ruining stock.
The UK cyber chief warns of a possible unprecedented rise in incidents.
How it unfolded
- May 2025UK supermarkets M&S and the Co-op were hit by ransomware hackers and struggled to stock some shelves with fresh deliveries.
- Oct 27, 2025Hacker group Qilin claimed responsibility for the Asahi attack on a dark web site, releasing 29 images and saying it stole about 9,300 files totaling at least 27 gigabytes.
- Oct 29, 2026Hackers stole $6.3bn from Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, in a record heist; the FBI attributed it to North Korean hackers.
Key terms
- ransomware
- Malware that holds a victim's data hostage, often by encryption, until a ransom is paid.
- dark web
- Part of the web hosted on darknets that requires special software, configurations, or authorization to access, allowing anonymous communication.
- cryptocurrency exchange
- A business that lets customers trade cryptocurrencies for other assets such as fiat money or other digital currencies.
Source: Wikipedia