Suspected cyberattacks targeting refrigeration systems have affected food businesses across Europe, with Germany, Greece, and Italy reporting incidents Tuesday following disruptions in eight other countries a day earlier.
Hackers allegedly manipulated temperature controls, causing food losses by switching refrigeration equipment to heating or defrost mode.
Germany
Hackers switched refrigeration systems from cooling to heating at supermarkets across North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria overnight, broadcaster Tagesschau reported Tuesday.
Large quantities of food had to be discarded.
A regional manager at the Workers’ Welfare Association, which operates affected CAP supermarkets, confirmed one attack to the German Press Agency.
Refrigerated shelves and external storage areas were affected. The attack reportedly targeted the company responsible for remotely maintaining the systems.
Police in Lower Bavaria were also investigating an incident at an Edeka branch in Reisbach on suspicion of data espionage and data manipulation.
Greece
A butcher shop in Athens’ Kifisia district reported that hackers accessed its refrigeration control system and set the temperature to 150C (302F), according to the daily Capital.
“They had set the refrigerators to 150 degrees Celsius, we could not manually intervene as we could not access the system,” owner Giorgos Boumpas said.
A technician restored control after two hours and reported similar incidents at two nearby businesses, Boumpas added. The shop subsequently disabled its Wi-Fi connection.
Italy
Italian authorities launched an investigation after supermarket refrigeration disruptions caused food to spoil, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Conad confirmed five affected stores, including two in Veneto and three in Sicily. Technical teams intervened to prevent significant losses.
Following talks with intelligence officials and the National Cybersecurity Agency, the government said the impact had been limited.
Some stores continued using outdated equipment with vulnerabilities, it said. Italy’s Postal Police opened an investigation.
Earlier disruptions across Europe
Monday’s incidents affected businesses in Sweden, Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Denmark, while Finnish retailers investigated whether temperature irregularities were linked.
Several ICA stores and six Coop outlets were affected in Sweden. At an ICA store on Oland, a manager found water covering the floor and a freezer temperature reading of 55C (131F).
ICA said affected connections were outside its central network, while Coop confirmed unauthorized manipulation.
In Belgium, Delhaize, Carrefour, and Spar supermarkets were affected, prompting prosecutors to open a criminal investigation.
Installer Sabcobel said attackers remotely switched evaporators to defrost mode. One shopkeeper estimated food losses of at least €60,000 (over $67,000).
Carrefour confirmed 15 targeted stores, while IKEA reported an attack at its Mons store. Colruyt and Intermarche reported refrigeration problems without confirming cyberattacks.
Ahold Delhaize reported an IT incident affecting dozens of stores in Belgium and Luxembourg.
In Ireland, a suspected cyberattack affected refrigeration equipment at 13 SuperValu stores. Parent company Musgrave later said all stores were operating normally, RTE reported.
A Danish food producer was also targeted, the Confederation of Danish Industry told DR, adding that its supplier stopped the attack.
At least 17 Dutch businesses were targeted, Danfoss told NOS, saying affected systems used default passwords and operated outside secure networks.
Several Kesko-operated Finnish stores reported temperature irregularities, with a cyberattack not ruled out, Yle reported.
In Estonia, hackers accessed a computer controlling refrigeration at a Selver supermarket and changed a freezer’s temperature, ERR reported.
The UK meat processing industry was also hit by cyberattacks, security officials announced earlier.
EU Agriculture and Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen described the attacks as a deliberate attempt to disrupt European food security, DR reported.
He said food security was not at risk but urged coordinated efforts to strengthen supply-chain resilience.
