Another cyber attack has hit European supermarkets.
(Image: Getty/Jacobs Stock Photography)
Supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg and Ireland have reportedly been affected
Supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg and Ireland have been hit by a suspected cyber attack, with temperatures of their fridges and freezers being raised overnight to around 55°C (131°F).
A number of supermarket chains have reportedly been affected including ICA in Sweden and Ahold Delhaize in Belgium and Luxembourg.
A spokesperson for ICA says: “ICA’s IT systems have not been affected. We have been informed of an incident at a small number of stores that use an external supplier and have their connectivity outside ICA’s central network. The incident has affected the stores’ refrigeration and freezer systems. ICA is currently supporting the affected stores in managing the incident.”
“We are aware of an IT incident affecting the refrigeration systems in a number of Delhaize stores,” says a spokesperson for Ahold Delhaize. “Our teams are working hard to fully assess the situation. We will share further information as soon as we are able to do so.”
Other outlets reported to have been affected include Sweden’s Coop, Spar in Belgium and Supervalu in Ireland. The UK has not been affected, but a spokesperson for The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ (the UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency), told The Telegraph: “The NCSC is working with its international partners and industry to fully understand details of an incident.”
Rising threat to food
This follows last month’s attacks on French supermarket fridges, in which food worth millions of euros was spoiled when temperatures were raised overnight. In that attack, chains affected included Coopérative U, Carrefour, Monoprix and E.Leclerc. The attacked software was provided by Danish firm, Danfoss.
No one has claimed responsibility for those attacks. They are currently being investigated by the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, and the French government’s cyber crime agency, ANSSI, was also instructed to investigate.
The Pentagon in the US is also now looking at whether suspicious freezer failures in stores on US military bases in August were a cyber attack and whether they are linked to the European attacks.
Belgium was identified as a country with exposed systems at the time of the French attacks by Sekoia Threat Detection & Research. “Our team has been tracking the exposure of these refrigeration control systems globally,” said Félix Aimé, senior CTI Analyst, at the time. “Using Censys data, we identified over 2,700 StoreView systems reachable over the internet, with approximately 1,700 located in France. While France is heavily affected, with nearly 50% of its exposed installations currently offline, the situation in other European countries remains uncertain. Systems are also exposed in countries like Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, or Belgium.”
