Ikea and European Supermarkets Hit by Second Wave of Fridge and Freezer Cyber-Attacks

At a Belgian butchery in Hove, south of Antwerp, the fridges had been turned up as high as 18 degrees Celsius by the time anyone noticed. Founder Luc De Laet of the De Laet + Van Haver chain said about €15,000 (roughly $16,764) worth of meat was ruined. His shop is one of more than 100 stores, by AFP's latest count, hit by a second wave of cyber-attacks on supermarket refrigeration across Europe.

The attacks surfaced on Monday, with stores in Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland and Estonia reporting tampering with the controls that keep fridges and freezers cold. Several chains said temperatures were pushed to 50C. Food, both chilled and frozen, spoiled in large quantities, and retailers in all five countries have had to throw it away.

The pattern follows an attack last month on more than 700 supermarkets in France, which also touched Dutch stores. In that case, hackers took over controllers mostly supplied by the Danish company Danfoss, disabled the alarm systems, and then either adjusted the thermostats or lengthened defrost programmes by hours. This time, Swedish retailer Coop confirmed that Danfoss is among its suppliers and that seven of its 800 stores were hit, with effects ranging from complete shutdowns to partial operation. Coop described the incident as unauthorised tampering with its cooling systems. In Estonia, authorities said the computer programme controlling the temperature units had been broken into. A manufacturer of the affected technology said one of its clients was hit, and the Selver chain said one of its stores was affected.

The scale varies by chain. Carrefour Belgium said 15 of its 700 Belgian stores were affected, and not every refrigerator in them. Spokesman Mich Vergauwen told AFP: "It's a cyberattack, there is no other reason," while calling the impact very limited. Colruyt Group said five Spar shops it runs as franchises in Belgium were attacked. Ahold Delhaize reported an overnight IT incident that hit dozens of Delhaize stores in Belgium and Luxembourg; it detected rising temperatures on Monday and is investigating. It had also reported a cybersecurity incident to Dutch police last month after spotting suspicious activity in its infrastructure. Intermarche in Belgium and Axfood in Sweden were also named among those affected, and Sweden's privately held ICA said a limited number of its stores were hit overnight.

In Ireland, SuperValu, the country's third-largest supermarket chain, said a cyber incident struck 13 of its 233 stores. Its wholesaler, Musgrave, said it had to pull some chilled and frozen products from sale.

Who is behind it remains unclear. It is not known whether the French attackers have struck again or whether someone is copying them. Fewer stores were affected than in France, and for most chains only a minority of outlets were touched.

EU Agriculture and Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen called the wave a deliberate attempt to disrupt the bloc's food supply and to undermine public confidence. He said food security is not currently at risk, but that the food waste and the effect on businesses are real. An EU spokesperson said the bloc has several tools to handle such incidents and will keep working with member states, adding that the episode shows cyber-attacks can disrupt citizens' daily lives.

The attacks land amid official calls for preparedness. A fortnight ago the UK government ran its Be Ready campaign, urging households to hold three days of food and water, about nine litres per person. Fridge hacking was not the stated reason, since the first incidents on this scale were reported in France in October, but governments have been voicing growing concern over climate, technological dependency and hostile states. What to watch now is whether investigators link the two waves to the same hands.