Supermarket Freezer Cyberattacks Extend to Eleven European Countries
Germany, Romania, and the United Kingdom reported new incidents as the European Commission called the attacks a deliberate attempt to disrupt the food supply chain.
Cyberattacks targeting supermarket refrigeration systems have expanded to around eleven European countries, with Germany, Romania, and the United Kingdom newly reporting incidents. German authorities counted four affected stores, Romanian reports cited six, and United Kingdom cases include small meat processors. Other affected countries include Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden.
European Commissioner Christophe Hansen described the attacks as a deliberate attempt to disrupt Europe's food supply chain and said the bloc would respond collectively. The United Kingdom's National Cyber Security Centre issued a warning to the entire food supply chain rather than retailers alone and reported confirmed exploitation within the country.
Mitigation measures are emerging among operators. Coop Italia is accelerating the migration of refrigeration controllers to modern 5G-connected modems, and controller manufacturer Danfoss has advised that refrigeration systems should not be directly exposed to the public internet. Investigations into the incidents are ongoing.