Tons of food wasted. Three weeks after a similar incident in France, thousands of supermarket refrigerators were hit by a cyberattack, causing their temperatures to rise, in several European countries on Monday November 2. Stores in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden were targeted. Germany and Romania were added to this list on Tuesday. No one has yet claimed responsibility for any of these waves of computer attacks.
In Belgium, dozens of stores belonging to several supermarket chains reported disruptions. Carrefour spokesperson in the country, Mich Vergauwen, reported in around fifteen of the chain's 700 stores. “It’s a cyberattack, there is no other reason,” he said. Ikea Belgium also announced that a cyberattack had hit its store in Mons, in southwest Belgium, leading to a sudden rise in freezer temperatures in the early hours of Monday. The Delhaize, Colruyt and Intermarché chains also suffered technical problems affecting their refrigerators in Belgium.
“Due to cyberattacks, there will be no products in the refrigerated and freezer sections,” read Monday morning on a poster affixed to the window of a refrigerator in a Delhaize store located in Boortmeerbeek, some 30 km northeast of Brussels. Delhaize also reported that four of its stores in Luxembourg were also affected. Belgian federal prosecutors announced the opening of an investigation, without qualifying the incident as a cyberattack at this stage.
The impact in Belgium, however, remained limited, both in the Carrefour and Intermarché brands, their spokespersons assured AFP. The opening of the stores concerned was therefore not affected by this incident. Few goods were thrown away, also assured the spokesperson for Intermarché in Belgium, stressing that in certain stores restocking could sometimes be done even before opening.
In Italy, incidents have been reported in more than twenty supermarkets in Sicily, according to Giovanni Arena, delegate for Sicily of Federdistribuzione, the professional federation of distribution companies. Four of the 300 supermarkets of the Radenza group, which manages Coop brand stores in Sicily, were targeted during the night from Sunday to Monday. “The defrosting of the frozen sections was triggered, which raised the temperature, programmed at -20 degrees,” explained Giuseppe Spadaro, the group's general director, in an interview with Corriere della sera. “This represents several kilos of products and we estimate the damage at several thousand euros. We had to throw everything away, the shelves are empty,” he added. A catering company in Tuscany and a frozen food company in Emilia-Romagna were also targeted.
In response, the Italian government called an emergency meeting on Tuesday. “The impact of these attacks is currently very limited,” he declared at the end. “Only a few commercial establishments were affected, out of the thousands present throughout the national territory” and “no case of risk to the health of citizens attributable to thawing phenomena has been noted,” added the Italian executive.
More than ten European countries were affected in total by these cyberattacks, pushing Brussels to speak out. The European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, denounced on Monday “extremely worrying repeated cyberattacks” and “a deliberate attempt to disrupt our food supply chain and undermine consumer confidence – a warning that we must take seriously”.
In Sweden, the Ica and Coop brands reported similar incidents on Monday morning. A Swedish store indicated that the temperature had been set at 50 degrees on its fridges and freezers, a procedure identical to that observed in France on October 12. “When we opened the freezers, it was really hot,” a manager told Swedish media SVT, referring to temperatures of 38 degrees in the fridge when he arrived at the store. The Coop chain confirmed that six of its approximately 800 stores were victims of a cyberattack at dawn on Monday. “The refrigerators and freezers have either stopped working completely or suffered partial malfunctions,” Carlos Cancino, Coop spokesperson, told AFP. The Swedish chain Ica, for its part, said that “a limited number” of its stores had encountered refrigeration problems, but the group could not confirm that a cyberattack was the cause.
In Ireland, the Musgrave group, which notably owns the Supervalu chain, announced that 13 of its stores had been affected, as well as a small number of its convenience stores in the Netherlands. Dutch public radio NOS also reported that at least 17 small local businesses had been targeted in the country. In Portugal, Grupo Mosqueteiros, which operates the Intermarché brand in the country, said the cyberattack had affected seven stores. In Finland, abnormal temperatures were detected in some supermarkets belonging to the Kesko chain, which said it was investigating the issue. In Estonia, at least one supermarket was the target of an attack, public broadcaster ERR reported. Four supermarkets were also affected in Germany and six in Romania, officials and representatives of the companies concerned said on Tuesday.
