Hackers target refrigerators in Ireland and European countries in new wave of cyber attacks

Cyber hackers have targeted fridges and freezers in supermarkets in several European countries including Ireland – causing temperatures to increase and food to spoil.

Ireland's ‌third-largest supermarket chain, ​SuperValu, said its refrigeration systems ​limited to a specific ​model ⁠in ⁠13 of ‌its 223 stores ‌had been affected by a cyber ⁠incident.

Chilled ​and ​frozen products have been removed ⁠from ⁠sale, it added.

Sweden's cyber security centre said it was responding to several incidents ​in ICA and Coop grocery stores, that had caused freezer temperatures to rise sharply overnight on Monday.

Meanwhile, fridges and freezers in dozens of stores across Belgium and ​Luxembourg operated by Ahold Delhaize were also hit by a cyberattack, the Belga news agency reported.

Carrefour said 15 out of its 700 shops in Belgium were impacted.

Five Spar stores operated under the Colruyt Group in Belgium also had their fridge systems attacked.

An unspecified supermarket chain in Estonia was also affected, with temperatures set to 50C, technology supplier Kitman Coldtech told public broadcaster ERR.

The incidents come less than a month after a similar attack impacted hundreds of supermarkets in France, during which temperatures in some fridges rose to 50C and sparked fires.

Les Mousquetaires, which ⁠owns retailer Intermarche, said that approximately 150 of its stores were affected, with the retail group forced to dispose of all the food.

Last month, Monoprix said that about 5% of its 490 French stores, and Ahold Delhaize also took several systems offline as it contended with a "security issue" in its network.

A European Commission spokesperson said the wave of incidents highlighted the importance of cybersecurity across the bloc.

"These incidents show ‌that cyberattacks can disrupt services, ‌affect businesses and directly affect citizens' ⁠daily
lives," the spokesperson said.

Though no one has ​claimed responsibility for the attack, the cases have put a spotlight on rising anxiety among regional
authorities over hybrid attacks spreading from conflicts after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in any sabotage or hybrid warfare operations.

'Everything is destroyed'

On Monday, one Swedish store said in a social media post that the temperature of its refrigerators and freezers had been set to 50C - echoing the incident in France.

At an ICA Baronen store in Stockholm, a notice said all the shop's freezers were broken due to a cyber attack.

Engla Ingwall, sales manager at an ICA franchise store in Stockholm said the attack occurred at 2am local time and was first noticed at 5.30am.

"There has been a cyberattack and all our freezers reached 50C," she said.

"Everything is destroyed."

"We are aware that a limited number of stores were affected by an incident overnight, which impacted their refrigeration and freezer systems," a spokesperson from ICA said.

Co-Op told Swedish daily newspaper Aftonbladet that six of its stores had been affected by similar incidents.

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The retailer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sweden's national cyber security centre head John Billow said the agency was investigating the latest incidents.

"We have in recent weeks... identified that we have quite a lot of exposed operational technology devices in Sweden that we have been clear about the necessity to update or patch," he said.

The CEO of Belgian refrigeration company Sabcobel, Stephan Moelans, which operates Delhaize's systems, confirmed the incident was a cyber attack.

He said the incident unfolded when the units' evaporators were switched to defrost mode.

Advances in technology have meant that devices ranging from refrigerators to heating systems that were manual, can now be controlled and monitored remotely.

This has created new opportunities for cyber criminals.

Tom Hegel, a researcher at cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, said that attacks were usually extortion, politically motivated
or nation-state level operations, with the lack of financial demands ⁠in the recent supermarket cases pointing to sabotage.

"Retail is an easy target because retail chains run enormous estates of refrigeration controllers, building management
systems, ​door access panels and point-of-sale gear," he said.

"Grocery margins are thin and stock perishes within hours, so any disruption hurts quickly ​and in public."

Authorities have not indicated who could have been behind last month's incidents.

(c) Sky News 2026: Hackers target refrigerators in Ireland and European countries in new wave of cyber attacks