In Belgium and Sweden, hackers have once again hacked into supermarket refrigerators
Supermarket chains in several European countries have been subjected to hacker attacks. As a result of the cyberattacks, refrigeration equipment in the stores switched to heating mode, causing food products to spoil.
Hackers target supermarket freezers again in Belgium and Sweden
Supermarket chains in Europe have reported new hacker attacks. As a result of the attacks, cooling equipment switched into defrost mode.
The management of the Ahold Delhaize and Colruyt chains stated on November 2 that the attack affected several dozen stores in Belgium and Luxembourg. Sabcobel, the company responsible for cooling equipment in the Ahold Delhaize chain, told Belgium's Belga news agency that a hacker attack was involved. Colruyt (the operator of Spar stores in Belgium) specified that cooling equipment failed in five stores.
According to Yle, Sweden's ICA supermarket chain also reported malfunctions in the operation of freezers. According to the company, the freezers switched into a 50°C defrost mode, causing many products to spoil. Aftonbladet reported that a similar problem was also observed in six stores belonging to the Coop Group in central Sweden.
Reuters reported that one of the supermarket chains in Estonia also faced a similar problem. The name of the chain and other details have not been disclosed.
Law enforcement agencies of European countries have not yet disclosed who is behind the hacker attack.
In October, hackers illegally interfered with the operation of cooling equipment in several hundred supermarkets belonging to various chains in France. At that time, the perpetrators also switched the freezers into a 50°C heating mode. Additionally, the Ahold Delhaize chain, which also owns supermarkets in the Netherlands, reported disruptions in the operation of its app.