Suspected cyberattack hit supermarket freezers across Europe in second wave

Ahold Delhaize said an IT incident caused temperatures to climb in refrigeration systems across dozens of supermarkets it runs in Belgium and Luxembourg on Monday, according to The Guardian . Grocers in Sweden, Estonia and Ireland reported similar problems, making this the second suspected cyberattack on European store cooling systems after one in France.

Ahold Delhaize spokesperson Sarah De Meester said the company is investigating the temperature increases, according to The Guardian. Stephan Moelans, CEO of refrigeration firm Sabcobel, said the attack switched the units' evaporators to defrost mode, according to Al Jazeera . Moelans said technicians were called out starting at 1 a.m. to cut the compromised installations off from the grid, according to The Guardian.

A Colruyt Group spokesperson said the refrigeration equipment in five Spar shops was targeted, according to NBC News . Colruyt franchises out the Spar outlets it oversees across Belgium.

In Sweden, Coop said six stores were affected, and ICA said a small number of its outlets had their cooling and freezing equipment knocked offline by an incident, according to The Guardian. Axfood said hackers broke into freezers at a Gothenburg-area hub that handles -delivery orders, according to Al Jazeera.

John Billow, head of Sweden’s national cybersecurity center, said the agency is handling several incidents tied to cooling equipment in stores, according to Al Jazeera. He said Sweden has many exposed operational technology devices that need updates or patches.

Jann Mutso, CEO of technology supplier Kitman Coldtech, said at least one Estonian grocery chain was hit and that its temperatures had been pushed up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Al Jazeera. Ireland’s SuperValu said a “cyber incident” compromised one particular type of refrigeration unit in 13 of the chain’s 223 stores, according to Al Jazeera.

No one has claimed responsibility for Monday's incidents or the French attack, according to Al Jazeera.

The incidents follow an October attack in France that disabled refrigeration at Intermarché, Coopérative U and Leclerc stores and drove temperatures in refrigerators and freezers up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) through a continuous defrost cycle. French police said hackers took over the cooling equipment of as many as 700 supermarkets, according to The Guardian. The hackers took over control units that came largely from Danfoss, a Danish company.

Ahold Delhaize notified Dutch police last month of a cybersecurity incident, according to The Guardian.