Cyberattacks Target European Supermarket Refrigeration Systems
Hackers disrupted refrigeration systems across Europe and the UK, causing widespread food spoilage by remotely triggering defrost cycles in internet-connected cooling units.
A coordinated campaign of cyberattacks targeted supermarket refrigeration and freezer systems across Europe and the United Kingdom, peaking on November 2, 2026. Attackers remotely accessed internet-connected controllers to trigger forced-defrost cycles or raise temperatures to as high as 70°C, causing catastrophic food spoilage. The November wave affected retailers in Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Italy, and Greece, including chains such as Ahold Delhaize, Carrefour, ICA, Coop, and SuperValu.
These incidents follow a larger attack in France on October 12 that impacted over 500 stores and caused several fires. Forensic data later linked a broader pattern of such attacks—including early 2026 hits in Israel and August malfunctions at U.S. military commissaries—to the Cyber Isnaad Front, an Iranian military hacking group. Many affected sites used vulnerable or obsolete controllers from manufacturer Danfoss, some of which reportedly used default passwords.
While the Romanian National Cyber Security Directorate described the attacks as "semi-amateurish," EU Commissioner Christophe Hansen characterized them as a "deliberate attempt to disrupt our food supply chain." In the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre reported that while the immediate impact was minimal, the events exposed systemic underinvestment in operational technology. NCSC Chief Executive Richard Horne warned that these attacks are merely the "foothills" of a coming surge in AI-powered cyber incidents targeting critical national infrastructure.
