Temperatures in freezers at various Swedish food stores rose sharply overnight, supermarket chains ICA and Coop said today, with at least one store attributing the incident to a cyberattack.

Last month, French police said that hackers had taken control of refrigeration units in hundreds of supermarkets in a large-scale attack that resulted in food being destroyed and fires breaking out, while also exposing vulnerabilities in interconnected systems.

A Swedish store said on social media today that the temperature in its refrigerators and freezers had been set to 50 degrees Celsius, mirroring the attack in France.

“We know that a limited number of stores were affected overnight by an incident involving their refrigeration and freezer systems,” a spokesperson for private supermarket chain ICA said in an email.

Private supermarket group Coop told the newspaper Aftonbladet that six of its stores had been affected by similar incidents. The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cyberattack also hits supermarket freezers in Belgium, Luxembourg and Ireland

Incidents involving refrigeration systems have caused widespread disruption to the operations of dozens of supermarkets in Belgium, Luxembourg and Ireland as well, with authorities and companies investigating suspected cyberattacks that led to the spoilage and destruction of tonnes of perishable goods.

In Belgium, supermarket chain Delhaize reported extensive failures affecting refrigerators and freezers at more than 40 of its stores overnight between 1 and 2 November. The problem affected outlets in both Flanders and Wallonia.

According to reports, store managers were alerted at around 4am to a sudden rise in temperature. Public broadcaster VRT reported that temperatures in the refrigerated storage areas reached 15 degrees Celsius, breaking the cold chain and raising immediate food safety concerns. Several stores cordoned off their refrigerated aisles, removed the goods and destroyed large quantities of stock. A notice at a Proxy Delhaize branch in Hoepertingen was particularly telling, openly informing customers that the systems had “fallen victim to hacking”.

For its part, Delhaize management has so far confirmed only that an “IT incident” affected its refrigeration systems, without officially confirming whether it was a cyberattack. The company has also declined to confirm reports of an extreme rise in temperature to as high as 70 degrees Celsius, describing them as unverified.

That same night, at least 15 Carrefour stores in Belgium also experienced refrigeration problems. Although the timing raises questions, no technical or operational link between the two incidents has been established so far, nor is there any evidence of a coordinated attack.

Confirmed cyberattack on Ireland’s SuperValu

In Ireland, supermarket chain SuperValu was the target of a targeted cyberattack on its refrigeration systems, forcing it to withdraw all fresh and frozen products from the shelves of 13 stores as a precaution.

The damage, which is expected to run into thousands of euros, affected outlets in areas including Lucan, Blanchardstown, Waterford and Bray. The stores remain open for the sale of other goods.

A spokesperson for Musgrave Group, which owns SuperValu, officially confirmed that the incident was a “cybersecurity incident”, clarifying that the problem was confined to a “specific model” of refrigerator.

“Our monitoring systems raised the alarm and we took immediate action,” the spokesperson said, stressing that the products had been withdrawn to ensure the absolute safety of consumers. The group is conducting an investigation in close cooperation with its refrigeration equipment suppliers and cybersecurity experts to restore full operations.

Source: Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA)