Europe on alert after supermarket freezers hit by cyber-attacks in 10 countries

Key points

• Cyber-attacks hit supermarket refrigeration systems in at least nine European countries on Monday, forcing food to be discarded.
• EU officials warned the incidents appear to be a deliberate attempt to disrupt the food supply chain.
• Belgian federal prosecutors opened an investigation, and the UK's NCSC warned retailers to update fridge control software.

Cyber-attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems affected chains in at least nine European countries on Monday, prompting EU officials to warn of a deliberate attempt to disrupt the food supply chain. Supermarkets reported problems in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden, and rising freezer temperatures forced retailers to discard food. Temperatures reportedly reached as high as 50C (122F). No-one has admitted carrying out the attacks.

EU and national responses

The EU's food and agriculture commissioner, Christophe Hansen, said the bloc was taking the incidents very seriously and warned of further disruption. Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier declined to attribute blame but said the incidents showed how cyber-attacks can disrupt essential services. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni's government met intelligence chiefs and said the impact was "currently very limited", with most of the food distribution chain protected by up-to-date security systems. At least four Co-op supermarkets in Sicily and one business in Tuscany were affected, according to the national cybersecurity agency.

These are not isolated incidents and of course we have to be collectively resilient and prepared for such cyber incidents.

— Thomas Regnier

Impact across countries

Belgian supermarkets were among the hardest hit, with dozens of stores reporting refrigeration failures, and federal prosecutors have opened an investigation. In Ireland, 13 SuperValu stores were affected by what owner Musgrave Group called a cyber-incident. Portugal's Mosqueteiros group linked incidents at seven Intermarché stores to an attack that appeared to target an external refrigeration provider. In the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre warned retailers to update fridge temperature control software.