NOVEMBER 3, 2026
Refrigerators in supermarkets across Europe were heated in an apparent cyberattack. (Photo by Maude BRULARD / AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images
Topline
Supermarkets across Europe were again targeted in cyberattacks Monday, which heated refrigerators to temperatures above 120 degrees Fahrenheit and destroyed food products, weeks after hundreds of supermarkets across France were impacted by similar hacks.
Key Facts
The attacks appeared to impact at least dozens of stores in countries spanning Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Estonia, according to multiple reports early Monday.
Authorities have not yet identified who launched the attacks, and no hackers have claimed credit.
Engla Ingwall, a sales manager at an ICA supermarket location in Stockholm, Sweden, told Reuters on Monday that “everything is destroyed” after their freezers were attacked and heated to 50 degrees Celsius, equal to 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
Christophe Hansen, the European Commission’s commissioner for agriculture, said the attack is a “deliberate attempt to disrupt our food supply chain and undermine consumers’ confidence,” saying the “repeated occurrence of these cyberattacks is deeply concerning.”
Some of the refrigerators that were targeted Monday used the same technology—software from the Danish firm Danfoss—as those targeted in last month’s attack on French supermarkets, Reuters reported.
Katrien Eggers, spokesperson for Belgium’s Centre for Cybersecurity, said she is concerned about the growing number of cyberattack incidents, saying “all IT systems are potentially vulnerable, and AI can now be used to successfully exploit these weaknesses — especially by sophisticated actors.”
The cyberattacks spanned multiple grocery store chains in several European countries, including the Ahold Delhaize and Colruyt groups in Belgium and Luxembourg, the latter of which reported five impacted stores, according to Reuters. Thirteen SuperValu stores in Ireland were targeted, as well as 15 Carrefour stores in Belgium and seven Coop supermarkets in Sweden, Reuters reported. ICA, a Swedish grocer, said a “limited number of stores were affected by an incident overnight.”
At least one IKEA—the Swedish furniture retailer famed for its meatballs and other food products—was targeted, the company told multiple outlets. One location in Belgium was hit by the attack, and an IKEA spokesperson said the chain “cannot rule out that additional locations may be affected, as we continue our investigation.”
The new apparent cyberattack comes weeks after hundreds of French grocery stores were targeted in a similar incident, for which no culprits have been identified and no hackers have claimed credit. In October, refrigerators at major supermarket groups including Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarché and Cooperative U were similarly heated, ruining food and causing what Thierry Cotillard, CEO of supermarket group Intermarché, said could be “millions of euros” in losses for affected stores. Les Mousquetaires, parent company of Intermarché, told CNBC it expected “several million euros” in losses.
Some cybersecurity experts raised concerns about vulnerabilities in the refrigerators’ technology. Researchers at cybersecurity firm Claroty previously warned about security vulnerabilities in Danfoss’ technology in a report in August, but they said the company had fixed these issues in a software update.
It’s unclear whether AI technology was used to aid in the attack, but Bjorn R. Watne, Interpol’s global chief information security officer, told CNBC earlier this month AI is increasing the “speed and scale” of cyberattacks, as it can allow hackers to more easily target multiple victims at once.
Courtesy: Th
