Conflict & Security
Suspected cyberattacks disrupt supermarket refrigeration across five European countries
November 2, 2026 at 01:28 PM
Coverage
4 reports · 1 in Arabic, 3 in English · over 2 hours
Temperature spikes in supermarket cooling systems have been recorded in Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Estonia, weeks after a similar attack in France.
- Sweden's national cybersecurity centre head, John Billow, confirmed on Monday that the centre is responding to multiple incidents affecting store cooling systems.
- Swedish chains ICA and Coop reported affected freezers, with one ICA store saying temperatures had been set to 50 degrees Celsius.
- Ireland's SuperValu said a "cyber incident" affected 13 of its 223 stores, and at least one Estonian supermarket chain was impacted.
- Ahold Delhaize said an IT incident hit dozens of its Belgian and Luxembourg stores, while five Belgian Spar shops reported fridge system attacks.
- The attacks manipulated digital control systems, rather than stealing data, raising temperatures in freezers and fridges and spoiling stored food products.
- Estimated losses from the supermarket refrigeration cyberattacks could reach as much as 10 million euros.



