European Supermarkets Report Suspected Freezer Hacks

Supermarkets in Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg and Estonia have reported problems with refrigeration systems in what local reports described as a new wave of suspected cyberattacks, according to The Verge, citing Bloomberg and Reuters.

An Ica Kvantum store in Sweden said on Facebook that its fridges and freezers were hacked overnight and their temperatures remotely raised to 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). Coop, a Swedish supermarket chain, told Business Insider that unauthorized actors had accessed and tampered with cooling systems at a small fraction of its stores.

Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize said an “IT incident” had adjusted refrigeration temperatures at dozens of its supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg. The full scale of the incident has not been confirmed.

Many supermarket refrigeration units connect to the internet for remote maintenance and system failure alerts. The suspected hacks have raised concerns about how security flaws could affect food supply chains.

The reports follow an apparent cyberattack targeting hundreds of French supermarket refrigerators last month. Resulting food spoilage was estimated to be worth millions of euros. A string of freezer malfunctions at US military bases has also been suspected to result from a cyberattack.