Supermarket chains in Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg said the temperature of their refrigerators and freezers in dozens of stores had risen overnight, raising fears of a cyberattack similar to the one that caused millions of euros in food losses in France.
The Swedish chain Coop told the daily Aftonbladet on Monday that six of its stores “had been affected”, while the ICA said it was “aware that a limited number of stores were affected overnight by an incident which affected their refrigeration and freezing systems”.
Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize, which reported a cybersecurity incident to Dutch police last month, said a “cyber incident” had affected refrigerators and freezers in dozens of its supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg.
A company spokeswoman, Sarah De Meester, said the supermarket chain had established that temperatures in the cooling systems had increased, adding that the incident was under investigation.
Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported that dozens of stores and supermarkets were affected, including five Spar outlets, several Shop & Go convenience stores attached to Q8 gas stations and a number of small Proxy Delhaize convenience stores.
“We started mobilizing technicians at 1 a.m.,” Stephan Moelans, managing director of Sabcobel, which specializes in refrigeration system installations, told the newspaper. “We spent all night and all morning disconnecting the affected installations from the network.”
French police said in October that hackers took control of the refrigeration units of nearly 700 supermarkets in a large-scale attack that led to heavy losses of chilled and frozen foods and highlighted the vulnerability of internet-connected systems.
Hackers had remotely changed the settings of thousands of freezers, refrigerators and refrigerated cabinets, pushing them from -27°C to well above 50°C. The Intermarché, Coopérative U, Carrefour, Leclerc and Monoprix chains were among those affected.
Stores have had to throw away large quantities of fresh meat, dairy and frozen goods, with many suffering losses ranging from tens of thousands of euros to more than €130,000 (£109,000). Two stores in Alsace recorded a cumulative loss of €270,000.
Most supermarket cold aisles are connected to the Internet to allow remote maintenance and alerts in the event of system failure. During the French attack, the hackers hacked controllers supplied mostly by the Danish company Danfoss.
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They disabled alarm systems before adjusting thermostats or extending the defrost program for several hours. Danfoss said it identified security vulnerabilities last year and has “long recommended” its customers install updates.
The Paris prosecutor’s office opened a formal investigation into the French attack, saying the damage included “loss of food and fires”, and the Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, tasked France’s national cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, with investigating.
ANSSI later confirmed that supermarkets using controllers from two other companies were also targeted by the attack.
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