Recent hacking incidents affecting refrigeration systems in French supermarkets have spread to Belgium, Luxembourg, and Sweden. Hackers reportedly manipulated cooling systems remotely, raising temperatures in refrigerators and freezers, raising concerns about food spoilage.
According to Yonhap News on November 2, Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize experienced IT issues related to refrigeration systems in about 40 stores nationwide from the night of November 1 to the early hours of November 2. Carrefour Belgium also confirmed similar problems in 15 of its stores.
This led to a sharp increase in internal temperatures of some refrigerators and freezers. Belgian RTL Info reported that many store managers received warnings around 4 a.m. that the temperatures of refrigeration equipment were rising, with some units reaching as high as 15 degrees Celsius.
Stores affected took emergency measures to minimize food inventory losses. Some managers and staff arrived early in the morning, and certain stores deployed refrigerated trucks to preserve products.
Delhaize's parent company, Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize, announced that IT issues related to refrigeration systems also occurred in dozens of supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg. The company confirmed the rise in cooling system temperatures and is investigating the exact circumstances of the incident.
Similar incidents have been reported in Sweden. According to local newspaper Aftonbladet, some stores of the major Swedish supermarket chains ICA and Coop experienced a rapid increase in freezer temperatures. An ICA store in the Shebo area of Sweden raised concerns about hacking, stating on Facebook that freezer temperatures had risen to 50 degrees Celsius.
This situation mirrors a cyber attack that occurred last month in France, where supermarket refrigeration systems were hacked, causing temperatures to rise to 50 degrees Celsius overnight on November 11-12. Approximately 700 stores had to dispose of spoiled food as a result.
The previous attack involved remotely manipulating refrigeration systems to switch equipment to defrost mode and raise internal temperatures. Similar methods are reported to have been used in Belgium and Sweden, but the connections and specific attack pathways between the incidents in different countries have yet to be confirmed.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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