More European supermarkets report hacked fridges and freezers
Supermarkets in Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg and Estonia have reported sudden temperature changes in their cooling systems, suspected to be cyberattacks. The full scale of the incident has not yet been confirmed.
Grocery stores in several European countries, including Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg and Estonia, have reported sudden changes in the temperatures of their fridges and freezers, which are suspected to be the result of cyberattacks. The reports come from local media, as relayed by Bloomberg and Reuters. The incident matters because it shows how internet-connected refrigeration can expose food supply chains to security flaws.
What the retailers say
In Sweden, a store of the Ica Kvantum chain said on its Facebook page that its fridges and freezers had been hacked overnight, with temperatures remotely raised to 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). Swedish supermarket chain Coop told Business Insider that unauthorized actors had been able to access and tamper with the cooling systems at a small fraction of its stores.
Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize said an "IT incident" had caused the temperature of refrigeration units to be adjusted in dozens of its supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg. The full scale of the incident has yet to be confirmed.
Why it is possible
Many modern supermarket fridges and freezers are connected to the internet to allow remote maintenance and failure alerts. The growing number of suspected hacks is raising concerns about how security flaws can affect food supply chains.
Earlier cases
The latest incident follows an apparent cyberattack last month that targeted hundreds of refrigerators in French supermarkets, with the resulting food spoilage estimated at millions of euros. A series of freezer malfunctions at US military bases is also suspected to have been caused by a cyberattack.
