Hackers remotely defrost food in supermarket fridges across Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden
- Severity
- High
- Sources
- 1
What happened
Multiple European grocers report IT intrusions into commercial refrigeration controllers that forced fridges and freezers into defrost, with temperatures reported up to 50oC. Around 40 Delhaize stores in Belgium were affected from Sunday to Monday 2 November, with further impacts at Carrefour, Intermarché, Spar, Shop & Go, ICA, Coop and at least 13 SuperValue stores in Ireland. In France, CERT-FR linked earlier compromises to Danfoss AK-SM and AK-SC controllers running outdated firmware; it is unconfirmed whether the same method was used. Operators of affected refrigeration controllers should check for internet exposure and apply vendor firmware updates.
For security analysts · Written by AI from 1 source · Wrong?
What to do
- Check whether refrigeration or cold-chain controllers are exposed to the internet and restrict remote access.
- Update refrigeration controller firmware to the latest vendor version, particularly Danfoss AK-SM and AK-SC units if in use.
- Monitor temperature alarms and set up alerting for unexpected changes in cold storage.
Written by AI from the sources, checked against them