Hackers Target European Grocery Stores Again, Switch Freezers to Defrost

A coordinated cyberattack has hit supermarket chains across several European countries, causing temperature spikes in freezer units and leading to widespread spoilage of frozen and chilled food, the BBC reports. The second wave follows similar attacks in France last month. In this case, the disruption affected 40 Delhaize supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as other chains in Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands and Estonia. As in France, the refrigeration controls were switched to “Defrost,” sometimes pushing freezer temperatures to 50°C (122°F). Stephan Moelans, CEO of Sabcobel—which operates the freezer systems for Delhaize—said the company disconnected affected units from the network overnight to diagnose the security issue. He added that the incident required hardware modification, not just software updates. The Swedish national cybersecurity center said it had identified exposed “operational technology devices” and urged operators to patch them. Researchers also pointed to the same vulnerability used in the France attack, and noted many affected freezers may be end-of-life with no available patch.