Supermarkets across several European countries on Monday reported cyberattacks on their refrigeration systems, causing temperatures in refrigerators and freezers to rise sharply and leaving stores with spoiled food.
Five Spar stores operated by Colruyt Group also reported attacks on their refrigeration systems, according to the company spokesperson cited by Reuters. Ahold Delhaize, which operates supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg, also reported an overnight IT incident that affected refrigeration systems in dozens of stores. Stephan Moelans, chief executive of Belgian refrigeration company Sabcobel, confirmed to the Belga news agency that the incident was a cyberattack. Technology supplier Kitman Coldtech confirmed the incident to public broadcaster ERR, according to Sky News. Finland also reported irregular temperatures in some smaller grocery stores belonging to the Kesko group, with the retailer saying it was investigating the cause and had not ruled out network interference, AFP reported. Some stores also reported fires caused by overheating equipment.
SuperValu’s owner, Musgrave, was investigating the incident after its monitoring systems alerted it to the problem. Ireland’s third-largest supermarket chain, SuperValu, confirmed that refrigeration systems in 13 of its 223 stores had been affected by a cyber incident, as per news agency Reuters. In Belgium, Carrefour confirmed that 15 of its 700 stores had been affected. In Estonia, at least one supermarket was affected after hackers reportedly raised the temperature of its refrigeration units to 50 degrees Celsius. French police said hackers had taken control of cooling units at up to 700 supermarkets, according to The Guardian. Temperatures in some units rose from as low as minus 27 degrees Celsius to more than 50 degrees Celsius, forcing retailers to discard large quantities of fresh meat, dairy products and frozen food.
The company said the problem involved a specific model of equipment and that chilled and frozen products had been removed from sale. Spokesperson Mich Vergauwen told Reuters that the incident was a cyberattack. The retailer said temperatures in its cooling systems had increased and that it was investigating the disruption, according to The Guardian. He said the attackers had switched the evaporators in refrigeration units to defrost mode, causing temperatures to rise.
