Supermarket fridges and freezers in seven European countries hit by suspected cyber-attack

Supermarkets and smaller shops in at least seven European countries reported that their fridges and freezers warmed up overnight into Monday 2 November, in what several of the companies involved said was a cyber-attack. Temperatures in some shops reportedly rose as high as 50C (122F), the BBC and The Guardian reported.

Retailers in Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland reported problems. Around 40 Delhaize supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg were affected, according to the BBC. Stephan Moelans, chief executive of Sabcobel, which runs Delhaize’s refrigeration systems, told the Belga news agency it was a cyber-attack in which the units’ evaporators were switched to defrost mode. He said the company had spent the night and morning disconnecting affected units from the network.

Carrefour said about 15 of its Belgian stores were affected, and Colruyt Group said five Spar shops were hit. In Sweden, ICA and Coop reported a small number of affected stores. Ireland’s SuperValu said a “cyber incident” hit a specific refrigerator model in 13 of its 223 shops. Danfoss told Dutch broadcaster NOS that systems at at least 17 companies in the Netherlands were attacked.

EU food and agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen called the attacks “a deliberate attempt to disrupt our food supply chain”, The Guardian reported. National cyber-security agencies in Belgium and Sweden said they were monitoring the incident. It is not known who is behind it, and no one has claimed responsibility.

The incident follows an attack in October in which hackers took control of cooling units in as many as 700 supermarkets in France, according to The Guardian. The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into that attack.