Supermarket networks in several European countries experienced disruptions to their refrigeration systems on Monday, November 2. The incidents affected stores in Belgium, Luxembourg and Sweden and led to temperature increases in some equipment.
In Belgium, refrigeration systems at five Spar stores operated by Colruyt Group and nearly 15 Carrefour supermarkets were attacked. Dozens of Ahold Delhaize locations in Belgium and Luxembourg were also affected.
Delhaize spokesperson Sarah De Meester said the company detected a rise in the temperature of its refrigeration systems. Stephan Moelans, chief executive of Belgian refrigeration company Sabcobel, said a cyberattack had occurred and that evaporators were switched to defrost mode, causing the equipment to warm up. Sabcobel supplies the systems used by Delhaize.
In Sweden, supermarkets operated by ICA and Coop reported similar problems. The incidents followed a cyberattack in France about a month earlier, when hackers allegedly took control of refrigeration systems and raised temperatures to as high as 50 degrees Celsius, causing fires and food losses.
Ahold Delhaize had reported a cybersecurity incident to Dutch police in October after detecting suspicious activity in its infrastructure. However, authorities had not identified those responsible for the latest incidents, and no group had claimed responsibility at the time of publication.
The attacks highlight the risks associated with connecting refrigeration units, alarms, security cameras and heating systems to networks for remote monitoring and control.
Sources: Olhar Digital.