Supermarket Freezers Across Seven European Countries Impacted by Suspected Cyber-Attack

Dozens of supermarkets across seven European countries have been hit by a suspected cyber-attack affecting their refrigeration and freezer systems. The incident caused cooling unit temperatures to rise overnight, following a method similar to an attack that affected hundreds of French supermarkets last month.

Around 40 Delhaize supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg were affected, alongside a smaller number of shops in Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland. Swedish grocery chains Coop and ICA confirmed that a limited number of their stores experienced issues with refrigeration systems. Affected retail locations included several Spar outlets, multiple Shop & Go convenience stores at Q8 service stations, and Proxy Delhaize minimarkets.

Sabcobel, a Belgian company that manufactures and installs affected refrigerators, stated that the units' evaporators were switched to defrost mode, causing temperatures to warm up significantly. Stephan Moelans, the chief executive of Sabcobel, told the Belga news agency that technicians spent the night and morning disconnecting affected installations from the grid. Moelans noted that while the company worked to protect fridges following the earlier French incident, the units required physical modifications rather than just software updates.

Local media reported that millions of euros worth of food had to be discarded due to the temperature increases, with some freezers reportedly reaching as high as 50C (122F). In Flanders, northern Belgium, a Delhaize branch in Hoeilaart reported losing €100,000 worth of produce. Supermarket cold aisles are typically connected to the internet to facilitate remote maintenance and system failure alerts.

National cyber-security agencies in Belgium and Sweden stated they were monitoring the incident. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre reported it was working with international partners and industry to understand the details, though no incidents were reported in the UK. Authorities have not yet identified who is behind the apparent attack.