Hackers Turn European Refrigerators into Ovens!
Press coverage 2 newspapers covered this event: Al-Jarida · Al-Qabas →Allegations of coordinated cyberattacks targeting cooling systems in European stores, raising EU concerns about food and economic security.
Translated by Qiyas from النهار — Original source
Brussels – Agencies: The European Union has warned of an escalating threat targeting food supply chains, following sudden disruptions to refrigeration systems in hundreds of European stores. The outages caused temperatures inside refrigerators and freezers to rise, spoiling large quantities of food. Authorities and retail companies suspect the incidents were caused by coordinated cyberattacks similar to those that struck France last month.
Christophe Hansen, the EU Commissioner for Food and Agriculture, said Brussels was treating the incidents “with utmost seriousness,” describing the repeated attacks as “deeply alarming.” The disruptions spread to at least nine European countries: Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, and Italy. The most severe disruptions occurred in Belgium, where authorities launched an investigation to determine the causes without officially confirming a cyberattack. However, affected companies expressed no doubt.
Carrefour confirmed that about 15 of its 700 stores were affected. Its spokesperson, Michel Vergoin, stated, “It is a cyberattack… there is no other explanation.” IKEA Belgium also announced that one of its branches suffered an attack that caused a sudden spike in refrigerator temperatures during the early hours of the morning. Other chains, including Delhaize, Colruyt, and Intermarché, reported similar problems.
In Italy, the National Cybersecurity Agency received reports of incidents targeting companies operating in the food and catering sectors, urging institutions to review their remote control systems and isolate them from the internet as much as possible. The agency warned that leaving sensitive industrial systems connected to networks could allow hackers to access and control them remotely, raising risks for critical sectors beyond mere food losses to threaten Europe’s economic and food security.
Reports and specialized companies indicated that many of the affected systems were using outdated equipment or software that had not received security updates, making them more vulnerable to breaches. Retailers linked the recent incidents to a refrigeration control system provided by the Danish company Danfoss, the same system associated with a cyberattack on French stores last October.
Danfoss did not comment on the new allegations, but had previously clarified that most of the devices affected by the French attack were older models that no longer received software or security updates. Experts said the recurrence of incidents in several countries over recent months makes it likely that the attacks will spread to other European markets, as technical vulnerabilities are increasingly exploited at a rapid pace.
