Supermarkets in 10 European countries reported refrigeration problems on Monday after a series of cyberattacks. The affected countries were Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and Sweden. Rising temperatures in some freezers led retailers to discard food, with reports of readings reaching 50C (122F).
The European Union said it was taking the incidents seriously and warned of the risk of further disruption. Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier did not assign blame, but said cyberattacks can interfere with essential services and affect people’s daily lives. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The incidents came three weeks after a separate cyberattack disrupted as many as 700 grocery stores in France, resulting in food losses estimated at tens of millions of euros. The security of remotely monitored refrigeration systems and other devices has raised concerns about possible attacks targeting the food supply chain.
Belgium was among the countries most affected, with dozens of stores reporting refrigeration failures. Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation. In Ireland, 13 SuperValu stores were affected by what the chain’s owner, Musgrave Group, described as a cyber incident; the company said work was under way to restock chilled and frozen products.
Italy’s government met with intelligence chiefs and described the impact as currently very limited. The national cybersecurity agency said at least four Co-op stores in Sicily and one business in Tuscany were affected. In Portugal, the Mosqueteiros group linked incidents at seven Intermarché stores to a cyberattack that appeared to target an external provider managing refrigeration systems.
A small number of shops in the Netherlands also experienced disruption. In Germany, refrigeration systems at the Rewe Büsken supermarket were affected after an attack on system provider Danfoss; the systems were back in operation by Monday afternoon. Sweden’s ICA reported problems at a limited number of stores but did not confirm a cyberattack, while Finland’s Kesko said it was investigating irregular temperatures detected in some smaller shops. Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR reported that hackers raised the temperature in at least one supermarket’s refrigeration units to 50C.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre advised retailers to update software used to control fridge temperatures. Its head, Richard Horne, said the agency had found a couple of cases in the UK where vulnerable technology had been exploited and was working with affected organisations. He said the warning covered the wider food supply chain, not only supermarkets.
Sources: BBC News World.