Refrigerators affected by cyberattack in stores in Belgium and several European countries

Refrigerators in stores of the Carrefour group in Belgium were affected by a cyberattack, its spokesperson Mich Vergauwen announced to franceinfo on Monday, November 2. Some 15 brands, out of the 700 owned by the group, were affected by this attack which had “very little impact”. This caused a rise in temperatures in the refrigeration installations concerned.

As for Intermarché, "around fifteen stores were affected", the brand informed franceinfo, "but the alarms sounded so quickly that everyone acted very quickly". The situation is considered almost normal. “For the few cold packs that could not have been disconnected in time, orders for goods were reissued, so a priori there is no significant consequence for consumers.” The Colruyt group, for its part, adds that five Spar stores "were affected", in this case "independents who have their own supplier and their own refrigeration systems".

The Delhaize brand announced that “a few dozen” supermarkets were also affected. “The assortment of fresh and frozen products [y] is temporarily somewhat limited. Our distribution centers are operating normally and no interruption in deliveries to our stores has been reported,” adds the group. Ikea Belgium also announced that a cyberattack had hit its store in Mons, in southwest Belgium, causing freezer temperatures to rise sharply in the early hours of Monday.

“All computer systems are potentially vulnerable”

“We are aware of an incident, but have no other information,” the Center for cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) told franceinfo. “All computer systems are potentially vulnerable, and AI now makes it possible to successfully exploit these flaws, in particular by sophisticated actors,” adds the organization, which refers to a security alert issued in mid-October.

Supermarkets in Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden were among the brands affected by this new hacker attack. In Sweden, the Coop chain confirmed that six of its approximately 800 stores had been victims of a cyberattack at dawn on Monday. Swedish chain Ica also said "a limited number" of its stores had experienced refrigeration problems, but the group could not confirm that a cyberattack was the cause.