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

A suspected cyber-attack has crippled refrigerators and freezers across dozens of supermarkets in six European countries, forcing retailers to destroy millions of euros worth of spoiled food.

Around 40 Delhaize locations across Belgium and Luxembourg were hit, alongside additional stores in Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Estonia. The breach echoes a similar incident last month that affected hundreds of French supermarkets using the same exploit.

Stephan Moelans, CEO of Sabcobel—the Belgian manufacturer operating Delhaize's cooling systems—confirmed the breach was a cyber-attack. Threat actors remotely switched the units' evaporators into defrost mode, causing temperatures to rise rapidly and ruining stored goods.

Sabcobel engineering teams worked around the clock to disconnect affected units from the network. Moelans noted that since the October breach in France, the company has been bolstering security, emphasizing that long-term prevention requires physical hardware modifications rather than simple software patches.

"The simplest solution is to manage the fridges over a secure internet connection," Moelans told the Belga news agency, noting that most clients had migrated to secure networks following the earlier French attack.

The identity and motives of the attackers remain unknown.

A suspected cyber-attack targeting supermarket cooling systems across Europe pushed freezer temperatures up to 50°C (122°F), destroying millions of euros worth of inventory and forcing national security agencies into action.

A single Delhaize branch in Hoeilaart, Belgium, reported losing €100,000 (£83,500) in ruined produce alone, a figure that does not account for additional losses from temporary store closures.

Other major retailers were also caught in the breach, with Carrefour confirming 15 affected Belgian stores—though immediate countermeasures kept all locations open—and Colruyt Group reporting attacks on five of its franchised Spar stores.

National cyber-security authorities in Belgium and Sweden are actively monitoring the situation, while the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) confirmed it is collaborating with international partners and industry experts to analyze the breach, noting that no UK retailers have been impacted so far.

In Sweden, several ICA and Coop shops were hit.

A spokesperson for ICA confirmed the incident had affected a "small number of ICA stores operating outside ICA's central network".

"ICA is currently supporting the affected stores in managing the situation," they said.

One of the ICA branches located in Sjöbo, southern Sweden, wrote on social media: "Our refrigerators and freezers have been hacked overnight and they have set the temperature to 50 degrees."

The store was closed earlier but has now reopened to customers.

Seven out of the 800 Coop stores in Sweden were also affected but the "situation is currently contained and under control", the company told the BBC.

The attack is also affecting shops in Ireland, the Netherlands and Estonia.

In Ireland, it impacted 13 SuperValu supermarkets. A spokesman for the owner of the chain, Musgrave Group, confirmed to The Irish Times that a "cyber incident" affected its refrigeration systems but added that the impact was limited to a "specific model" of refrigerator.

A spokesperson for Danish equipment manufacturer Danfoss confirmed to Dutch public broadcaster NOS that the cyber-attack struck the freezing and cooling systems of at least 17 companies in the Netherlands overnight, hitting independent butcher shops and small neighborhood stores.

The reach of the disruption has also extended into the Baltic region. According to Estonian public broadcaster ERR, a Selver supermarket was compromised, alongside reports of several other businesses across Estonia falling victim to the network intrusion.

Reporter, Uzalendo News.