Supermarket freezers in Sweden and Belgium were remotely heated to temperatures as high as 55°C on Monday, destroying food stocks worth millions of euros in a wave of cyber incidents that has raised fresh concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure.
The disruption affected six Coop stores and at least four Ica outlets in Sweden, while around 40 Delhaize stores, 15 Carrefour outlets and five Spar shops faced disruption in Belgium. Store managers said they were unable to control freezer temperatures as hot air flooded refrigeration units.
Rickard Nilsson, head of an Ica store in Sjöbo in southern Sweden, told local media that temperatures exceeding 50°C had destroyed food worth hundreds of thousands of Swedish krona. "We can't adjust the temperatures, we can't change them. Hot air is blowing into the freezers. Everything is ruined," Nilsson said.
In Belgium, Ahold Delhaize, the parent company of Delhaize, confirmed it was aware of an IT incident affecting the refrigeration systems in a number of Delhaize stores and was working to assess the situation.
The attacks follow a series of incidents on French supermarkets last month, which are being investigated by the cybercrime unit of the Paris public prosecutor's office and France's national cybersecurity agency, Anssi.
Cybersecurity researchers at Claroty said in an August report that they had identified multiple vulnerabilities in Danfoss commercial refrigeration systems. The company subsequently fixed the vulnerabilities. Danfoss said last month that the attacks had affected refrigeration systems that were no longer receiving security updates and were running outdated firmware.
The incidents underline warnings from cybersecurity experts about the potential consequences of attacks on critical infrastructure, including power plants and food retail networks, particularly where outdated software and weak IT security leave systems exposed.
