Supermarket freezers across Europe hit by second suspected cyber-attack

Supermarket refrigeration systems in Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg suffered overnight temperature increases, raising fears of a second coordinated cyber-attack on European grocery stores. Sweden’s Coop reported six affected branches, while ICA said a limited number of its stores had problems. Ahold Delhaize, which owns supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg, confirmed an IT incident had affected cooling equipment in dozens of stores and said it was investigating. Belgian reports named Spar, Shop & Go and Proxy Delhaize locations among those hit. Refrigeration specialists began disconnecting affected units during the night.

The incident recalls a major attack in France in October, when hackers reportedly manipulated cooling systems at as many as 700 supermarkets, causing extensive losses of meat, dairy and frozen food. They remotely changed settings on thousands of units, in some cases driving temperatures from deep below zero to above 50C, after disabling alarms or extending defrost cycles. Store losses ranged from tens of thousands of euros to more than €130,000, with two Alsace outlets losing €270,000 combined. The French investigation found attacks involving controllers from several manufacturers. Because supermarket cooling systems are internet-connected for maintenance and alerts, weaknesses in their security can expose large numbers of stores to disruption and costly food waste.