Cyberattacks Disrupt Supermarket Fridges Across Sweden and Europe

Cyberattacks recently disrupted supermarket cooling systems across Sweden and Europe. In Sweden, major chains ICA and Coop confirmed incidents at local stores. The disruptions forced retailers to throw away spoiled fresh and frozen food. Shoppers in Stockholm should be aware of possible fresh food disruptions.

Attackers targeted digital control systems on November 2. Temperatures inside some freezers rose sharply to 50 degrees Celsius. Seven countries reported cooling problems, including Sweden and Finland. Coop Sweden confirmed that six of its stores suffered cooling failures.

Belgian refrigeration supplier Sabcobel said attackers switched cooling units to defrost mode. Technician teams acted quickly to disconnect compromised systems overnight. In Estonia, attackers remotely raised fridge settings to 50 degrees Celsius. Irish supermarket SuperValu reported issues at 13 of its stores.

This event follows a similar attack in France during October. That French attack damaged up to 700 supermarket systems. It caused fires and tens of millions of euros in food losses. Danish manufacturer Danfoss produces some of the compromised controllers. Danfoss previously urged customers to install needed security updates.

Sweden's national cybersecurity centre is currently handling multiple local incidents. Experts found many fridge control devices remain exposed on the internet. European Commissioner Christophe Hansen called the attacks a deliberate threat to food supplies. Authorities have not yet identified who launched the attacks.