A wave of suspected cyberattacks has put supermarkets in several European countries on alert, causing disruptions to cooling systems and major damage to food products. The attacks have been reported in Belgium, Sweden, Estonia, Luxembourg and Ireland, where store refrigerators and freezers have suffered sudden increases in temperature, in some cases up to 50 degrees Celsius. The situation is similar to that recorded in France on October 12, when hundreds of supermarkets faced similar problems with their cooling systems.
In Belgium, the intrusions have affected points of sale of several major retail chains, including Delhaize, Carrefour, Spar and Intermarche. According to the Belga agency, problems have also been reported at an IKEA store. The attacks are believed to have occurred around midnight between Sunday and Monday, following the same modus operandi as in the case of France.
In Sweden, the sudden rise in temperatures has also caused damage to products stored in freezers. Several ICA and Coop stores were temporarily closed in the early hours of the morning to deal with the situation. Dennis Vidal, manager of one of the affected stores in the south of the country, told public broadcaster SVT that employees were emptying freezers because the food was damaged and could not be saved. Meanwhile, ICA group representative Gustaf Nilsson confirmed that a limited number of stores had been affected by an incident overnight that had damaged the cooling and freezing systems.
Other cases have been reported in Estonia, Luxembourg and Ireland. According to European media, in Estonia, interference in the control system of a supermarket chain caused the temperature of a freezer to rise to 50 degrees Celsius. In Ireland, problems were also reported in the cooling systems of some points of sale.
As a result of these incidents, some supermarkets have been forced to remove and destroy large quantities of fresh and frozen products from their shelves due to the disruption of the cold chain. In some cases, stores were temporarily closed to manage the crisis and avoid risk to consumers.
However, the exact cause of all the incidents has not been officially confirmed and investigations must determine whether they are coordinated attacks. Recent episodes have revived concerns about the vulnerability of automated systems that control refrigeration equipment in large retail chains.
