European countries hit by supermarket freezer cyberattacks - Newsweek
Supermarket chains across Europe reported suspected cyberattacks on fridges and freezers on Monday, ruining food worth millions of euros.
Stores in Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Estonia, the Netherlands and Luxembourg said freezers had suddenly risen in temperature.
The incidents follow an attack in France last month that police said involved hackers seizing control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets, causing fires and food losses.
For the second time in a month, grocery store chains across Europe reported unexpected temperature spikes.
In Ireland, refrigeration systems at 13 SuperValu stores were hit by a suspected cyberattack on Monday, resulting in the removal of chilled and frozen products. SuperValu owner Musgrave said a specific refrigerator model was affected without elaborating.
But similar incidents in other parts of Europe were blamed on cyber attacks.
In Belgium, 40 Delhaize Proxy supermarkets, 15 Carrefour Shop & Go stores, 15 IntermarchΓ© shops and five Spar Q8 service station locations were affected.
Stephan Moelans, the CEO of Belgian refrigeration company Sabcobel, which runs Delhaize's systems said the units' evaporators had been switched to defrost mode.
Netherlands-based food retailers Ahold Delhaize and Colruyt in Belgium both said an IT incident overnight had sent temperatures soaring inside fridges and freezers in their stores in Belgium and Luxembourg.
A spokesperson from Delhaize said "we immediately took the necessary measures to keep our stores operational."
Carrefour Belgium said, "it's a cyberattack, there is no other reason," although added that the "impact is very limited".
In Sweden there were similar reports of temperature spikes in food storage equipment.
One Swedish ICA store posted on social media that its refrigerators and freezers had been "hacked" overnight and set to 50 degrees Celsius.
Customers at an ICA Baronen store in Stockholm notified customers that the shop's freezers were broken due to a cyberattack.
"We are aware that a limited number of stores were affected by an incident overnight, which impacted their refrigeration and freezer systems," said a spokesperson.
The retail group Coop said that six of its stores had also been affected by similar incidents.
Meanwhile in Estonia, one supermarket chain was also affected, with temperatures set to 50 degrees, technology supplier Kitman Coldtech told public broadcaster ERR, without naming the chain.
The incidents come less than three weeks after incidents in France where police say hackers seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets, raising temperatures and causing fires and food losses.
Newsweek has contacted Supervalu operator Musgrave, ICA and Delhaize for comment.
The French government's cyber security agency is investigating the attack although so far, no actor has been held responsible.
