Supermarkets across northern and north-eastern Europe were hit by a new wave of apparent cyberattacks on Monday, targeting the refrigeration and freezer systems of store chains. Reports of sudden temperature spikes emerged from stores in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Estonia, and Ireland.
In Sweden, the Coop chain reported that six of its stores were affected, while ICA confirmed a limited number of stores experienced an incident impacting their cooling systems. In Belgium and Luxembourg, supermarket chains including Ahold Delhaize, Colruyt, Carrefour, 40 Delhaize, and Spa reported overnight IT incidents that hit dozens of stores.
The attacks caused refrigeration temperatures to soar, with some freezers reportedly reaching as high as 50C. This led to the destruction of many food products and the disruption of supplies. In Belgium, approximately 100,000 euros worth of food had to be thrown away due to the malfunctions.
This incident marks the second wave of cyberattacks on supermarket refrigerators in a month. A similar series of attacks hit hundreds of supermarkets across France in October, which also caused temperature increases, significant food losses, and fires.