A cyberattack against European supermarket freezers has ruined food worth millions of euros, just weeks after a nearly identical incident in France.
As in the French case , the units were not simply turned off. Instead, the internal temperature was turned up to 55°C, destroying any food inside at brands including Ica, Coop, Delhaize and Carrefour.
“We can’t adjust the temperatures, we can’t change them. Hot air is blowing into the freezers. Everything is ruined,” Rickard Nilsson, manager of an Ica shop in Sjöbo in southern Sweden, told Aftonbladet .
While the attack in France affected 400 retail locations, this incident is smaller though more geographically widespread, affecting Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg and Ireland. Fewer than 100 stores are thought to have been hit.
The incident affected at least four Ica stores and seven of 800 Coop shops in Sweden, as well as 13 SuperValu shops in Ireland.
In Belgium and Luxembourg 40 Delzhaize shops, five Spar locations and 15 Carrefour outlets were hit, with Carrefour confirming its stores remained open.
James Neilson, SVP of Global at OPSWAT, noted that while the scale of this attack is smaller, "for each affected store the damage is just as real. Stock has to be destroyed and replaced, suppliers and distribution centres must absorb a surge in demand, refrigeration technicians have to inspect and restore systems site by site, and retailers must reassure customers that what’s back on the shelves is safe."
Delhaize, one of Belgium's largest supermarket chains, confirmed to local media that "a computer incident" had occurred overnight on Sunday.
One Delhaize manager, at a branch in Hoeilaart in Flanders, told Het Laatste Nieuws it had lost €100,000 worth of stock.
A spokesperson for Carrefour in Belgium, Mich Vergauwen, said only a small number of its stores were impacted because of measures taken following the attack in France. These included security updates and a secure connection.
The French incident compromised systems running legacy software by Danish company Danfoss, which had reached end of life as long ago as 2016. No links have been drawn to Danfoss or similar software vulnerabilities at the time of writing.
Neilson said, "Supermarkets run a mix of IT and OT, but very few people are experts in both. There’s usually a lack of understanding of how IT threats affect OT environments, and attackers exploit that gap, using IT systems, internet connectivity and transient devices to reach OT."
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