Supermarket chains across Northern and Western Europe have suffered coordinated disruptions to their cooling infrastructure over recent days. Retailers including ICA and Coop in Sweden, Delhaize in Belgium, and SuperValu in Ireland all reported freezers and refrigerators malfunctioning simultaneously, with temperatures climbing to 50°C or higher and forcing stores to discard perishable inventory.
The incidents began in Sweden, where one ICA Kvantum location in Sjöbo, in the country's south, claimed on Facebook that intruders had accessed its cooling systems and deliberately raised temperatures. The store closed temporarily before resuming operations later that day. Coop reported that six of its 800 Swedish locations experienced similar problems, later rising to seven stores affected. The disruptions occurred across multiple regions, from the southern Skåne area to the island of Öland, where an ICA Nära manager discovered water flooding the floor and a freezer reading 55°C.
Sweden's national cyber security centre has taken charge of investigating multiple cases involving store cooling failures. "Sweden's national cyber security centre is handling several cases involving disruptions to store cooling systems," John Billow, the centre's head, told Reuters. ICA stated that its affected locations operate independently of its main network, while Coop indicated the situation remained manageable.
The problem has extended well beyond Sweden's borders. In Belgium, approximately 40 Delhaize stores experienced refrigeration failures, with temperatures in refrigerators and freezers reaching 15°C according to broadcaster VRT. Carrefour Belgium also reported disruptions at 15 locations, and around five Spar stores encountered similar issues. Luxembourg stores operated by Ahold Delhaize were also affected, Reuters reported.
Ireland's SuperValu chain confirmed that 13 of its stores were hit by the same type of malfunction. Additional reports have emerged from Finland and Estonia, though the specific supermarket chains involved have not been disclosed.
This latest wave of attacks follows a similar incident in France on 11 October, when hackers tampered with refrigeration systems across hundreds of supermarket locations, raising temperatures to approximately 50°C and causing widespread food waste. A separate investigation is also underway in the United States, where the Pentagon is examining whether hackers caused refrigeration failures at military base stores in August.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for any of the European incidents, and authorities have not established any connection between the attacks in Sweden, Belgium, France and the United States.
Source: The Next Web
