Suspected hackers hit freezers across Europe
Coop and ICA reported overnight temperature spikes at Swedish stores, as retailers in Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and Estonia faced similar incidents weeks after an attack in France.
Freezer temperatures rose sharply overnight at several Swedish grocery stores operated by ICA and Coop, and at least one store blamed a cyberattack, as reported by Reuters. The store said on social media that its refrigerators and freezers had been set to 50°C. Coop told the daily Aftonbladet that six of its stores were affected. “We are aware that a limited number of stores were affected by an incident overnight,” an ICA spokesperson said.
Similar incidents were reported in Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and Estonia. In Ireland, SuperValu said a specific model of refrigeration system was hit by a “cyber incident” at 13 of its 223 stores. Dozens of Ahold Delhaize stores in Belgium and Luxembourg recorded temperature increases, along with five Spar shops in Belgium run by Colruyt Group. In Sweden, Axfood said freezers at a home-delivery distribution center near Gothenburg had been hacked.
Sweden’s national cybersecurity center is responding to the incidents. Its head, John Billow, warned that the country has “quite a lot of exposed operational technology devices” that need to be updated or patched.
The incidents come weeks after hackers took control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets in France, causing food losses and fires, according to French police. No one has claimed responsibility for either wave of attacks.
