Hackers remotely cranked supermarket freezers to 50 degrees Celsius across four European countries Monday, destroying perishable stock and exposing a chilling vulnerability in retail infrastructure.
The incidents struck chains in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg and Estonia. They follow a similar wave last month when attackers seized control of refrigeration units in hundreds of French supermarkets, causing temperatures to spike dangerously.
Swedish grocery giant ICA Group confirmed that “a limited number” of locations experienced overnight failures in cooling and freezing equipment, according to spokesperson Gustaf Nilsson. He declined to specify exact figures.
One branch, ICA Kvantum in Sjöbo, posted on Facebook that hackers had breached its systems and set temperatures to 50 C (122 F). Staff scrambled to throw away ruined products.
Meanwhile, Coop reported six affected stores in central Sweden.
In Belgium, Delhaize attributed the malfunction to an “IT incident” that disrupted refrigeration across several dozen stores, primarily in Belgium with a few in Luxembourg. Spokesperson Sarah De Meester said fresh and frozen selections remain temporarily restricted, though distribution centers operate normally.
Carrefour called the cyberattack “extremely limited,” affecting just 15 of its 700-plus Belgian locations.
Estonia also saw fallout. Kitman Coldtech CEO Jann Mutso told public broadcaster ERR that attackers accessed a client’s cooling control system and raised the temperature to 50 C. Response teams caught the breach within minutes, avoiding significant losses. The Selver chain acknowledged one affected outlet.
As a result, European grocers face mounting pressure to secure aging refrigeration infrastructure. The French attacks appeared to target legacy systems, hinting at broader vulnerabilities across the continent’s food retail sector.
