Cyberattack on Swedish supermarkets sends refrigerator temperatures soaring to 70 degrees

Several major supermarket chains in Sweden have been hit by a cyberattack that disrupted operations and caused considerable damage at some stores.

The incident began on the evening of Sunday, November 1, and continued until the morning of Monday, November 2. Hackers are suspected of remotely taking control of the systems regulating the temperatures of refrigerators and freezers storing thousands of food products. As a result of the manipulation, temperatures in the units rose to 70 degrees, putting large quantities of goods at risk.

Similar incidents were detected at almost the same time in Belgium and Luxembourg, while an attack using a similar method had previously been reported in France.

The financial damage in Sweden is estimated at hundreds of thousands of kronor. In addition to the refrigeration systems, some checkout systems also stopped working, but it has not yet been established whether that problem is directly linked to the cyberattack.

In response, the company decided to temporarily close some of its stores. It has apologized to customers and said steps are being taken to restore services and resume normal operations.

The affected companies and authorities are assessing the consequences of the incident, while the full extent of the intrusion and who is behind the attacks remain unknown.