Cyberattack raises freezer temps to 50C across 10 European nations

Retailers across ten European countries scrambled to discard food on Monday after a cyberattack pushed freezer temperatures as high as 50C. The incident affected supermarket chains in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, and Sweden. European Union officials described the event as a deliberate effort to disrupt the continent's food supply.

No single group has claimed responsibility for the breach. The attacks land three weeks after a separate cyber incident disabled 700 French grocery stores, causing food losses estimated in the tens of millions of euros. This timing has intensified fears regarding government-backed hybrid attacks on remote monitoring devices used in refrigeration systems.

Christophe Hansen, the EU food and agriculture commissioner, stated that the bloc is treating the incidents with high seriousness. He warned that further disruption is possible. Thomas Regnier, a commission spokesman, noted that these events demonstrate how cyber threats can interrupt essential services and impact daily life. He emphasized that the incidents are not isolated and require collective resilience.

In Belgium, dozens of stores reported refrigeration failures, prompting federal prosecutors to open an investigation. Mathieu Tilman, a manager at a Delhaize supermarket, said he was distressed by the amount of food wasted. He told reporters he felt like quitting his job during the crisis.

Italy’s government called a meeting with intelligence chiefs after at least four Co-op supermarkets in Sicily and one business in Tuscany were affected. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said the impact was currently very limited. Officials noted that affected businesses mostly used obsolete security systems with interfaces directly exposed to the internet.

In Ireland, 13 SuperValu stores were impacted by what owner Musgrave Group called a cyber-incident. A spokesman said replenishment of chilled and frozen ranges was well under way. In Portugal, the Mosqueteiros group linked incidents at seven Intermarché stores to an attack on an external service provider managing refrigeration systems.

Disruption also reached Germany, where the Rewe Büskен supermarket in the west experienced system failures following an attack on provider Danfoss. The company said its systems returned to operation on Monday afternoon. In Sweden, the ICA chain reported refrigeration problems in a limited number of stores without confirming a cyberattack. Finland’s Kesko group detected irregular temperatures in a few smaller grocery stores and is investigating.

Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR reported that hackers raised temperatures to 50C in at least one supermarket. In the Netherlands, a small number of corner shops suffered disruption. The UK’s National Cyber Security Center warned British retailers to update software on fridge temperature controls. Richard Horne, head of the NCSC, said vulnerable technology was exploited in a couple of instances in the UK. He added that the agency has been working through the night to alert organizations with exposed systems.