IKEA store in Belgium hit by fridge cyberattack; refrigeration systems impacted as supermarkets across Europe face issues

IKEA's store in Mons, Belgium, was hit by a cyberattack targeting refrigeration control systems on Monday, forcing the Swedish furniture retailer to remove some food products from its refrigeration units as a precaution, amid a wider wave of similar incidents affecting supermarkets across Europe.

The company said the attack caused freezer temperatures at the store in southwestern Belgium to rise suddenly in the early hours of Monday. IKEA, which operates in-store restaurants serving food including Swedish meatballs, said it expected some food waste as a result.

"We cannot rule out that additional locations may be affected, as we continue our investigation," an IKEA spokesperson said.


The incident is part of a broader cyberattack affecting grocery retailers in at least five European countries — Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden — where refrigeration systems experienced technical disruptions and temperatures in cold storage units rose.

Supermarkets across Belgium report disruptions

In Belgium, Carrefour reported disruption at around 15 of its 700 stores. Spokesperson Mich Vergauwen said the issue was caused by a cyberattack.

Other grocery chains, including Delhaize, Colruyt and Intermarche, also reported technical problems affecting their refrigeration systems. Delhaize said four of its stores in Luxembourg were affected as well.

Belgian industrial refrigeration group Sabcobel said it had started securing its installations following a similar attack on French retailers on October 12. However, around 10% of its installations had yet to be fixed, with some located in stores affected by Monday's incident. Its chief executive, Stephan Moelans, said the impact would have been significantly greater had the company not begun the security operation.

Sweden and Finland also report affected stores

In Sweden, supermarket chain Coop confirmed that six of its around 800 stores had been hit by a cyber incident early Monday. The company said the problem had been resolved and that its refrigerators and freezers were operating normally.

Coop spokesperson Carlos Cancino said the six affected stores were connected to a 4G mobile network rather than the updated 5G system, leaving them more exposed to hackers. The company said it did not know who was behind the attack.

Rival Swedish chain Ica also reported refrigeration problems at a limited number of stores, although it could not confirm whether these were caused by a cyberattack. The affected outlets were connected to an external refrigeration control system supplied by Danish manufacturer Danfoss, whose equipment was also targeted in the earlier attack in France.

In Finland, irregular temperatures were detected in a few smaller grocery stores belonging to the Kesko group. The company said it was investigating the cause and had not ruled out interference through the network. Finland's National Cyber Security Centre also said it could not rule out cyber interference.

Estonia reports refrigeration units set to 50 degrees Celsius

In Estonia, at least one supermarket was reportedly targeted by hackers who raised the temperature of refrigeration units to 50 degrees Celsius, according to public broadcaster ERR.

The affected units were older models supplied by Danfoss, similar to those targeted in the French incident, Jann Mutso, director of refrigeration systems company Kitman Coldtech, told ERR. He said the nature of the attack appeared similar but declined to provide further details.

Following the October 12 attack in France, Danfoss had told AFP that most of the affected equipment comprised legacy products that no longer received software or security updates. The company had not responded to AFP's request for comment on the latest incidents.

Earlier attack in France affected hundreds of stores

The latest incidents follow a cyberattack on October 12 that affected refrigeration systems at hundreds of stores operated by major French retailers. The attack forced retailers to discard spoiled food and raised concerns over the security of food supply chains.

No one has claimed responsibility for either the French attack or the latest incidents across Europe.

Information security specialist Roni Kokkola of Finland's National Cyber Security Centre said the spread of such attacks beyond France had been expected, adding that vulnerabilities were increasingly being exploited more actively and rapidly.

EU flags threat to food supply chain and consumer confidence

European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen said on Monday that the attacks were a deliberate attempt to disrupt the European Union's food supply and undermine consumer confidence.

While he said food security was not currently at risk, he warned that food waste and the impact on businesses were real. Following the earlier attack in France, Hansen had also stressed that food security required greater attention at all levels.


(With inputs from Reuters, AFP)