Suspected cyberattacks trigger refrigerator outages at supermarkets across Europe | Cybersecurity News

Temperature increases were reported in the cooling systems of dozens of stores across the continent, weeks after a similar attack in France caused fires and food loss.

Suspected cyberattacks have caused temperatures to rise in grocery store refrigeration systems in a growing number of countries across Europe.

Nighttime temperature spikes were recorded in stores in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden. Retailers and authorities on Monday pointed to suspected cyberattacks that underscored the vulnerability of systems that once operated largely mechanically.

The director of Sweden’s national cybersecurity center, John Billow, confirmed to the Reuters news agency on Monday that the center was responding to several incidents affecting stores’ cooling systems.

“Over the past few weeks we have identified that we have a large number of operational technological devices on display in Sweden and have clearly indicated the need to update or patch them,” he said.

The temperature of freezers in several Swedish stores suddenly rose overnight, store operators ICA and Coop said, while Swedish retailer Axfood said freezers at a grocery home delivery distribution center in the Gothenburg region had been hacked.

SuperValu, Ireland’s third largest supermarket chain, said a specific model of refrigeration systems had been affected by a “cyber incident” at 13 of its 223 stores.

The Belga news agency reported an overnight increase in temperature in dozens of Ahold Delhaize stores in Belgium and Luxembourg. They were blamed on a cyberattack, according to the head of refrigeration company Sabcobel.

Stephan Moelans said the units’ evaporators had gone into defrost mode.

Also in Belgium, five Spar stores had their refrigeration systems attacked, said a spokesperson for the Colruyt group, which operates the franchise system.

In Estonia, at least one supermarket chain was affected, technology provider Kitman Coldtech told public broadcaster ERR.

“It’s very recent, it happened this morning,” said Kitman CEO Jann Mutso, without naming the channel involved.

Ahold Delhaize reported a cybersecurity incident to Dutch police last month.

The cyberattack on the refrigeration systems of hundreds of supermarkets in France raised the temperature of refrigerators and freezers by up to 50 degrees Celsius (122F), spoiling food and causing fires in several stores.

A Swedish store said in a social media post on Monday that the temperature of its refrigerators and freezers had been set to the same temperature as during the cyberattack in France.

“We are aware that a limited number of stores were affected by an incident overnight, which affected their refrigeration and freezing systems,” a spokesperson for privately held ICA told Reuters in an email.

Kitman’s Mutso also said temperatures in the Estonian range were set at 50 degrees Celsius (122F).

Private retailer Coop told Swedish daily Aftonbladet that six of its stores had been hit by similar incidents.

Neither Monday’s attack nor the one that occurred earlier in France has been claimed.

However, these incidents contribute to increased concerns about hybrid warfare resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Iran-US War.

European states have blamed Moscow for a growing number of incidents affecting infrastructure, particularly via cyberattacks, in recent months. Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in sabotage or hybrid warfare operations.

“These incidents show that cyberattacks can disrupt services, affect businesses and directly affect the daily lives of citizens,” a European Commission spokesperson said, stressing the importance of strengthening “cybersecurity” across the bloc.

A spokesperson for the Center for Cybersecurity Belgium told Al Jazeera that the increasing number of cyberattack incidents, particularly those resulting from the targeted use of AI, is an evolving trend.

However, they added, “we may never be able to identify… who is behind this attack.”