In brief
A cyber incident set refrigeration systems off‑kilter in supermarkets across Europe, affecting chains like SuperValu, Axfood, ICA, Coop, Delhaize and Colruyt. Stores removed frozen and chilled foods as a precaution, while authorities investigate links to a notable October attack in France.
A cyber intrusion disrupted the refrigeration systems of 13 SuperValu supermarkets in Ireland on Monday, prompting the temporary removal of perishable items, Xinhua reported. The breach followed similar disruptions across several European countries.
Xinhua quoted a Musgrave Group spokesperson who said, "Our monitoring systems alerted us to the issue and we took immediate action," and added that other product categories were unaffected. The company was working with equipment suppliers and cyber‑security specialists to restore normal temperature controls.
In Sweden, Axfood said that a distribution centre handling home‑delivery groceries had its freezer systems hacked. Other major Swedish chains also confirmed problems overnight. Coop indicated six of its stores were affected, while ICA confirmed a limited number of locations experienced cooling failures.
One ICA outlet stated its refrigeration and freezer temperatures had been set to 50 degrees Celsius following a suspected cyber‑attack, Xinhua reported. The store was forced to postpone sales of chilled items until temperatures returned to safe levels.
Across Belgium and Luxembourg, Ahold Delhaize’s Delhaize chain reported an IT incident that affected refrigeration at dozens of stores. The Colruyt Group also reported that the five Spar outlets they operate had been targeted, with refrigeration systems compromised, Xinhua added.
The incidents come a few months after a major French cyber‑attack in October that gave hackers control of refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets, raising severe temperature spikes and resulting in substantial food losses and, in some cases, fires, according to French police.
Authorities have not yet established whether the new wave of incidents is connected to the earlier attack or to a single threat actor, Xinhua stated.
For shoppers, the immediate effect has been the disappearance of frozen and chilled foods from shelves across multiple chains while the tech teams work to restore systems and prevent further temperature escalations.
