Shop freezers in six European countries hit by suspected cyber-attack

Dozens of supermarkets in Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Estonia have fallen victim to a suspected cyber-attack, affecting their refrigerators and freezers. Around 40 Delhaize stores in Belgium and Luxembourg were impacted, alongside a smaller number of shops in other affected countries. Sabcobel, a Belgian manufacturer of some of the affected refrigerators, explained that the units' evaporators were activated into defrost mode, causing them to warm up.

This incident bears resemblance to last month's attack on French supermarkets. Valuable food has had to be discarded, with estimates suggesting millions of euros in losses, according to local media. Stephan Moelans, CEO of Sabcobel, confirmed the incident was a cyber-attack and the company's efforts to "disconnect the affected units from the network" during the early hours of the day.

Since the French attack in early October, Sabcobel has been working on "protecting our customers' fridges against this vulnerability," though this requires physical modifications rather than mere software updates. Moelans emphasized that the "simplest solution" is to manage refrigerators over a secure internet connection, a measure adopted by most of the company's customers after the French attack.

The source of the apparent cyber-attack remains unknown. Freezers in several shops across Europe reportedly reached temperatures of up to 50C (122F). While both Belgium and Sweden's national cyber-security agencies are monitoring the situation, no incidents have been reported in the UK.