Freezers at dozens of supermarkets in Sweden and Belgium were reportedly tampered with in suspected cyberattacks, causing temperatures to rise as high as 55°C and destroying food worth millions of euros. The incidents came weeks after similar attacks affected hundreds of supermarkets in France, where one refrigerator reportedly reached 80°C.
In Sweden, Coop said hackers had altered refrigerator and freezer settings at seven of its roughly 800 stores. At least four Ica locations were also affected. Camilla Nilsson, manager of the Ica St Olof store in Österlen, said attackers had accessed the stores’ refrigeration management systems and changed their settings.
Rickard Nilsson, who is responsible for an Ica store in Sjöbo, told Aftonbladet that staff could not change the temperatures and that warm air was being blown into the freezers. He said the food had been lost, with the damage at temperatures above 50°C valued at hundreds of thousands of Swedish kronor.
In Belgium, local media reported that around 40 Delhaize stores and five Spar locations were affected. Carrefour said 15 of its stores in Flanders and Wallonia had been hit but remained open. The retailer’s Belgian spokesperson, Mich Vergauwen, said the incident resembled the attacks in France, adding that measures introduced afterward—including updates and secure connections—limited the impact to a small number of stores.
Ahold said it was aware of an IT incident affecting refrigeration systems at several Delhaize stores and was assessing the situation. The attacks in France are being investigated by the Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit and France’s national cybersecurity agency, Anssi.
Many of the affected refrigeration systems use software made by Danish industrial group Danfoss. Cybersecurity researchers at Claroty said in an August report that they had found multiple vulnerabilities in Danfoss systems, which the company later fixed. Danfoss said last month that earlier attacks had affected refrigeration systems running outdated firmware and no longer receiving security updates. It said no link had been established between its products and Monday’s incidents.
Cybersecurity specialists have warned that weak IT security and outdated software can expose critical infrastructure and commercial facilities to attacks. Robert Lee, chief executive of cybersecurity firm Dragos, said large language models have made it easier for hackers to access the knowledge and tools needed to target multiple devices and locations at once. He described the scale of the recent incidents as unusual, noting that operational technology attacks had typically been isolated events.
Sources: Folha Mercado.