Fridge cyberattack on supermarkets across Europe prompts EU warning

A suspected cyberattack on Monday hit grocery stores across at least nine European countries, targeting refrigeration and freezer systems. Supermarkets in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden reported temperature rises that forced retailers to discard spoiled food. In Italy, at least four Coop supermarkets in Sicily and one business in Tuscany were affected, according to media reports and the national cybersecurity agency.

Giuseppe Spadaro, head of the Radenza Group, stated the attack targeted remote-control systems for frozen food sections at 4:00 am.

The EU has warned that these incidents represent a deliberate attempt to disrupt the food supply chain and undermine consumer confidence, according to EU food and agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen. This event follows a cyberattack three weeks ago that forced hundreds of French outlets to throw away spoiled stock. No one has claimed responsibility for either incident. In Belgium, federal prosecutors have opened an investigation after dozens of stores across several grocery chains reported failures.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Local Germany, The Hindu - Sci-Tech, CBS News, Malay Mail, New Straits Times — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.