Dozens of major supermarkets in Belgium and Sweden have reported millions of euros in damage after a cyberattack targeted remote refrigeration control systems, causing temperatures in storage facilities and freezers to surge to 50 degrees Celsius overnight between November 1 and the early morning of November 2.
The incident highlights worsening physical security vulnerabilities in connected devices, echoing warnings regarding security risks in smart IoT devices and concerns over the wave of organized cyberattacks spreading globally.
Freezers Tampered to Reach 50 Degrees Celsius Overnight
Retail chain ICA, one of Sweden’s largest food distributors, confirmed that attackers had unlawfully breached the temperature control software systems of several affiliated stores. Instead of maintaining sub-freezing conditions to preserve meat, fish, and fresh produce, the remotely manipulated system shut down compressors and blew hot air reaching up to 50 degrees Celsius.
Similar conditions quickly spread across Europe. In Belgium, more than 40 supermarkets belonging to the Delhaize chain, 15 stores operated by Carrefour, and 5 Spar outlets fell victim. Many store managers stated that they received temperature alerts on their phones at 3 a.m. but were unable to intervene manually through the server system, leaving them with no choice but to watch all frozen goods thaw and spoil.
The incident occurred just 3 weeks after a similar disruption left more than 700 supermarkets in France undergoing mass thawing, causing tens of millions of euros in losses and severely damaging refrigeration equipment. Scattered temperature disruptions were also reported in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland, Estonia, and Finland.
Operational Infrastructure Threats and Official Responses
Belgian federal prosecutors have formally opened a criminal investigation to trace the origin of the attack. The hackers’ method relied on exploiting a security vulnerability in the source code of industrial refrigeration management software, which is shared by multiple retail chains and connected directly to the internet for centralized monitoring.
Notably, US authorities also revealed last week that the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) is investigating similar incidents that occurred in freezer facilities at several US military bases over the past summer, indicating signs of a testing campaign aimed at food supply chain infrastructure.
Cybersecurity experts recommend that retail businesses immediately review operations, isolate operational technology (OT) cooling control networks from the public internet, and apply security patches to temperature control software to prevent the risk of cascading disruption.