Cyberattack on supermarket fridges sweeps across Europe, one month after similar incident in France

A coordinated cyberattack on supermarket refrigeration systems spread across Europe over the past month, forcing stores to discard food and raising concerns about hybrid threats to infrastructure. The incidents echo a similar attack in France last month that caused fires and food losses at hundreds of supermarkets. Ahold Delhaize, Colruyt, ICA Sweden, Coop Sweden, IKEA, and Musgrave SuperValu have all reported affected stores.

Belgian sales manager Engla Ingwall described freezer temperatures rising to 50 degrees Celsius after the attack at 2 a.m. (0100 GMT). Retailers are increasingly vulnerable due to the growing number of remote-controllable devices and AI's ability to exploit weaknesses. While no group has claimed responsibility, authorities are concerned about potential nation-state involvement amid heightened security tensions since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The European Commission emphasized that these attacks are deliberate disruptions of the food supply chain that undermine consumer confidence.