Hackers Turn Supermarket Fridges Into Ovens Across Europe
(MENAFN) A wave of cyberattacks on commercial refrigeration systems reached Germany overnight, with hackers reportedly forcing cooling units in multiple supermarkets to heat instead, a German public broadcaster reported Tuesday.
Stores in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria were hit, according to the report. Retailers reportedly had to throw away large quantities of food.
A regional manager at the Workers’ Welfare Association, which runs the affected CAP supermarkets, confirmed one of the incidents to a German news agency, the broadcaster said. Refrigerated shelving and external storage areas were both compromised. The intrusion reportedly targeted the contractor that remotely maintains the stores’ refrigeration equipment, not the stores themselves. Total losses have yet to be established.
Separately, police in Lower Bavaria are investigating an incident at an Edeka branch in Reisbach on suspicion of data espionage and data manipulation.
The attacks extend beyond Germany. On Tuesday, hackers allegedly broke into the refrigeration controls of a butcher shop in Athens’ Kifisia district and raised the temperature to 150C (302F). Security officials said earlier that the UK meat processing industry had also come under cyberattack.
The German incidents followed a broader onslaught on Monday, when suspected cyberattacks on refrigeration systems struck several European countries, causing food losses and triggering a criminal investigation in Belgium. Cases were reported in Sweden, Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark, while Finnish retailers were checking whether overnight temperature irregularities were connected.
EU Agriculture and Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen called the attacks a deliberate attempt to undermine European food security, a Danish public broadcaster reported. He said food security itself was not under threat, but that the disruption and resulting waste had a tangible impact on businesses. He urged coordinated action to strengthen resilience across the supply chain.
Stores in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria were hit, according to the report. Retailers reportedly had to throw away large quantities of food.
A regional manager at the Workers’ Welfare Association, which runs the affected CAP supermarkets, confirmed one of the incidents to a German news agency, the broadcaster said. Refrigerated shelving and external storage areas were both compromised. The intrusion reportedly targeted the contractor that remotely maintains the stores’ refrigeration equipment, not the stores themselves. Total losses have yet to be established.
Separately, police in Lower Bavaria are investigating an incident at an Edeka branch in Reisbach on suspicion of data espionage and data manipulation.
The attacks extend beyond Germany. On Tuesday, hackers allegedly broke into the refrigeration controls of a butcher shop in Athens’ Kifisia district and raised the temperature to 150C (302F). Security officials said earlier that the UK meat processing industry had also come under cyberattack.
The German incidents followed a broader onslaught on Monday, when suspected cyberattacks on refrigeration systems struck several European countries, causing food losses and triggering a criminal investigation in Belgium. Cases were reported in Sweden, Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark, while Finnish retailers were checking whether overnight temperature irregularities were connected.
EU Agriculture and Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen called the attacks a deliberate attempt to undermine European food security, a Danish public broadcaster reported. He said food security itself was not under threat, but that the disruption and resulting waste had a tangible impact on businesses. He urged coordinated action to strengthen resilience across the supply chain.
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