Cyber attackers defrost supermarket freezers in Sweden and Belgium as SuperValu clears chilled food from 13 Irish stores

Hackers have remotely tampered with refrigeration systems at supermarkets in Sweden and Belgium, ruining frozen and chilled stock. Irish chain SuperValu cleared food from shelves across 13 stores after its fridges and freezers were similarly compromised. The incident comes a month after a comparable cyberattack struck hundreds of refrigeration units in French supermarkets.

Swedish retailers initially attributed temperature surges to technical faults before one store confirmed that hackers were behind the disruption.

The attacks point to a growing pattern of cyber intrusions aimed at grocery cold-chain infrastructure across Europe.