More European supermarkets are getting their freezers hacked
Supermarket chains across Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg, and Estonia are confronting a wave of suspected cyberattacks targeting their refrigeration infrastructure. Retailers have reported unauthorized tampering that triggered drastic temperature shifts in commercial fridges and freezers. In Sweden, an Ica Kvantum store discovered that its cooling units had been remotely manipulated overnight to reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). Fellow Swedish chain Coop confirmed that unauthorized actors managed to breach cooling controls at a small fraction of its stores, while Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize reported an IT incident that altered refrigeration temperatures across dozens of supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg.
The intrusions exploit internet-connected management systems, which retailers increasingly deploy to monitor equipment and receive automated maintenance alerts. While the full scope of the disruption remains unconfirmed, the incidents underscore how cyber vulnerabilities can threaten food supply chains. This latest wave follows a similar suspected attack last month that targeted hundreds of French supermarket refrigerators, resulting in millions of euros in spoiled goods, alongside an unexplained string of freezer malfunctions at US military bases that are also suspected to stem from cyber interference.
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