Freezers Being Hacked? Europe and U.S. Military Investigating New Outages
Outages hit several countries
About 20 refrigeration systems at Delhaize, Carrefour and Spar supermarkets went down, Sabcobel CEO Stephan Moelans told Belgium’s Belga News Agency. Aftonbladet also reported outages at Swedish chains ICA and Coop, as well as in Luxembourg and Estonia.
Moelans said technicians began responding at 1 a.m. and worked to disconnect affected units from the network. ICA said the problems affected a limited number of stores using an outside supplier; its central systems were not affected.
Food spoiled in earlier attacks
The latest suspected attacks resemble disruptions at French supermarkets the previous month. Refrigerators and freezers were set to warmer temperatures, spoiling food and causing small fires. ICA Kvantum Sjöbo said on Facebook that its refrigeration units were hacked overnight and set to 50 degrees Celsius, or 122 degrees Fahrenheit. The store said it would discard the food and work to restore operations.
Pentagon examines possible links
In August, refrigeration systems failed at six U.S. military commissaries. The Pentagon is investigating those outages and the French supermarket incidents as potential cyberattacks, but Christopher Whyte said there is no official proof the events are connected.
Cybersecurity experts said internet-connected appliances can create opportunities for network breaches. Whyte said common equipment across commercial chains could leave multiple systems exposed if a weakness is found in one; he also noted that spoiled goods can cause immediate financial losses.
Key points
- Outages affected supermarkets in Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg and Estonia.
- An ICA store reported temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius and said it would discard food.
- The Pentagon is investigating French supermarket and U.S. commissary outages as potential cyberattacks.
- Experts warn that shared equipment and internet connections may increase exposure to breaches.