Belgian, Swedish Supermarkets Report New Suspected Freezer Hack

Supermarkets in Belgium and Sweden reported sudden changes in the temperatures of their fridges and freezers on Monday, sparking fears of a cyberattack similar to those that recently occurred in France.

Delhaize, which is owned by Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize, confirmed that an “IT incident” took place at about 40 of its stores in Belgium on Sunday night, impacting the refrigeration systems, Belgian newswire Belga reported. A small number of Carrefour Belgium and Spar supermarkets also reported a similar issue, Belga said.

Several supermarkets of the ICA and Coop chains in Sweden are seeing higher temperatures in freezers, according to a report in newspaper Aftonbladet. The freezers’ temperature has been raised to 50C (122F), Ica Kvantum in Sjöbo, Sweden, said on its Facebook page, adding that it suspects a hack. Two more ICA stores are also reporting issues and Coop has six affected stores in the middle part of the country, Aftonbladet said.

“We are aware that a limited number of stores were affected by an incident overnight, which impacted their refrigeration and freezer systems. ICA is currently providing support to these stores in managing the situation. We will provide further information when we can,” an ICA Sverige spokesperson told Bloomberg via email on Monday. The spokesperson didn’t confirm a cyberattack.

ICA has about a third of the Swedish grocery market, while Coop has about 17%.

The incidents raise concerns of a repeat of the disruption that took place in France last month, when 700 stores were hit by cyberattacks that disabled refrigeration systems and forced stores to throw out damaged food. The Intermarché, Coopérative U and Carrefour SA chains were among those impacted. No group has publicly claimed responsibility for the hack.

Last month, a cyberattack resulted in days of service outages and empty shelves across Ahold Delhaize stores in the Netherlands. The company has still not said what caused the problem.

In the US, the Pentagon said last week it was examining the failure of food storage freezers across several military facilities.

Photograph: A woman walks past empty food refrigerators at a supermarket in Névez, France, on Oct. 12, 2026; photo credit: Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images

Related:

• The Cost of Losing Your Cool: Tallying the Losses of a Supermarket Cyberattack
• French Supermarket Hack Exposes Cyber Vulnerabilities in Retail
• As French Supermarkets Try to Restock, They Are Told Cyberattack May Be Ongoing
• Insurers: French Supermarkets’ Cyber Insurance Unlikely to Cover Food Losses
• Hackers Heat French Supermarket Fridges, Sparking Fires and Spoiling Food

Topics Cyber