Cyberattack hits Belgian supermarket fridges and freezers

Dozens of Belgian supermarkets have been hit by a cyber attack that saw their refrigerators turned up to 70 degrees Celsius, resulting in €100,000 worth of food being thrown away, according to Belgian media reports on Monday.

Some 40 Delhaize supermarkets have been impacted.

Carrefour reported that at least 15 supermarkets were affected, while the supermarket chain Spar reported five stores were impacted. Butchery group De Laet en Van Haver also said that their fridges were affected.

"We have identified an IT incident affecting the refrigeration systems in several dozen stores. We immediately took the necessary measures to keep our stores operational," a spokesperson from Delhaize told Euronews.

Cybercriminals carried out the attack between Sunday night and Monday morning, skyrocketing refrigerator temperatures.

Problems reportedly also occurred at a number of stores of the Swedish supermarket chain ICA last night.

It follows a similar attack in France just weeks ago, on 12 October.

Hundreds of French supermarkets belonging to the Intermarché and Coopérative U chains fell victim to a cyberattack targeting their refrigeration systems.

This is a developing story that our journalists are updating.