Cyber ​​attacks have apparently paralyzed supermarkets in Europe

Suspicion of a cyber attack Cooling systems in supermarkets in several countries disrupted As of: November 2nd, 2026 • 5:10 p.m

Cybercriminals have apparently attacked supermarkets again. In Belgium and Sweden in particular, they ensured that refrigerators and freezers became warmer. It's not the first time.

Supermarkets in several European countries were suspected of being the target of a cyber attack on Monday night. In Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Luxembourg, Estonia, Finland and the Netherlands, refrigerators and freezers became warmer. This was reported by the news agencies Belga and TT as well as several media outlets.

In Belgium, supermarkets from Delhaize, Carrefour and SPAR were affected, as well as the IKEA branch in the Belgian city of Mons. According to the company, the impact there was limited. As Belga reported, Delhaize spoke of an “IT incident” in around 40 branches. Carrefour reported 15 affected stores, while SPAR reported five stores.

All supermarkets reported a sudden increase in temperature in the cooling systems. According to the cooling technology service provider Sabcobel, the systems were put into defrost mode remotely. “We started mobilizing technicians from 1 a.m. tonight to bring the situation under control,” said Sabcobel CEO Stephan Moelans. The Belgian public prosecutor's office is investigating.

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In Sweden, the chains ICA and Coop were affected on Monday. A Swedish supermarket said on social media that the temperature in its refrigerators and freezers had been turned up to 50 degrees. Several branches were affected by the overnight outage, the company ICA said. However, the supermarket chain does not yet want to speak of a hacker attack. Seven supermarkets in the Coop chain also reported problems with the cooling systems.

According to broadcaster RTÉ, 13 supermarkets were affected in Ireland. As a precautionary measure, chilled and frozen foods were removed from sale in the affected branches. In the Netherlands, at least 17 smaller shops were affected, said the cooling technology company Danfoss. One case was reported in Estonia.

A case was also reported in Estonia. A supermarket and the responsible refrigeration technology company confirmed the incident. Accordingly, attackers gained access to the control computer of an older Danfoss cooling system whose software had not yet been updated. According to Finnish Radio, a few smaller shops in Finland were also affected by a malfunction in the cooling systems.

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No one has yet reported the attacks. It is difficult to assess who is behind it, said Pontus Johnson, head of the Center for Cyber ​​Defense at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Financial motives are probably out of the question in this case - it's more about causing unrest in society.

“For example, there could be pro-Russian groups behind it,” said Johnson. "They have done things like this before. Groups that are not necessarily part of the Russian state apparatus but carry out various disruptive actions against Western states to show their support for Russia."

The incident is similar to a large-scale attack in France last month. According to police, hackers there had taken control of the refrigeration systems of hundreds of supermarkets, leading to food spoilage and fires.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen expressed concern about the repeated cyberattacks: they are a deliberate attempt to disrupt food supply chains and undermine consumer trust.

According to IT security experts, comparable cooling systems are also used in Germany. But not all grocers use the same software or hardware. But: The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has made it easier for attackers to find security gaps. So far, large German retailers have not reported any incidents comparable to those in France, Belgium or Sweden.

With information from Jana Sinram, ARD Studio Stockholm

This topic in the program: The First | daily topics | Oct 12, 2026 | 10:30 p.m