From hacked supermarket refrigerators and a record-breaking theft at Binance to emergency responses to vulnerabilities in widely used software, companies around the world are facing a wave of cyber threats that executives say artificial intelligence is accelerating and making increasingly sophisticated.

A recent cyberattack targeting European supermarkets – the second in three weeks in which hackers raised the temperatures of refrigerators and freezers – has underscored the urgency of the situation.

“It is an endless game of cat and mouse, with very high stakes,” said Marnie Wilking, chief security officer at travel platform Booking.com.

Almost 37,000 software or computer-system vulnerabilities were reported in the third quarter of 2026, three times the number recorded a year earlier, according to the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) catalogue, an international register of disclosed security flaws.

“We are seeing incidents of a scale that previously occurred months apart, every week or even every two days,” Marcus Noga, chief technology officer at German company Ionos, told Reuters.

Ionos said it had changed its security practices after observing a sharp increase in vulnerabilities in July. The company has installed AI-based monitoring systems to detect threats and is using AI-assisted tools to install updates across its systems around the clock.

Binance, which was targeted by hackers who stole $6.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency, said it would increase investment in AI-enhanced detection systems. The Port of Rotterdam is working on an AI-powered “cyber shield”, while Siemens is testing advanced artificial intelligence models for defensive security.

The Dutch supermarket group Ahold Delhaize, which operates the Stop & Shop and Giant Food chains in the United States, was hit by two hacker attacks last month. The first, in mid-October, resulted in lost sales of more than €200 million and prompted a warning of lower profits.

McKinsey forecasts that the global market for cybersecurity products and services sold by external providers will grow from $223 billion in 2025 to $346 billion by 2029.

Hacked refrigerators highlight growing risks

The attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems demonstrate how artificial intelligence is putting pressure on companies to fix their systems quickly as soon as a vulnerability is identified, said Sean Tufts of cybersecurity firm Claroty.

Claroty published research in August, months before the attacks began, outlining weaknesses in refrigeration controllers.

After an initial wave of attacks hit shops in France on 11 October, Claroty researchers used widely available AI tools to replicate the vulnerabilities and take control of a test device, highlighting the risk of further attacks.

Meanwhile, US internet infrastructure company Cloudflare reported that attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in its PHP systems surged from thousands to millions within hours of their disclosure.

AI-discovered flaws could lead to more disruptions in the future, the company told Reuters.