Hackers Turn Supermarket Freezers Into Heaters Across Europe
Thursday, November 5, 2026167 words3 minutes281 reads
Supermarkets in several European countries reported refrigeration problems on November 2 after apparent cyberattacks. Some stores discarded food, while others removed products as a precaution. One Swedish store said its controls had been set to 50 degrees Celsius. That was a reported setting, not proof that every freezer reached that temperature.
The description of freezers becoming heaters refers to disrupted cooling, rather than machines being converted into new appliances. Internet-connected controllers let stores monitor equipment remotely. However, access to those controls can also allow attackers to interfere with settings. Investigators had not established how every affected system was accessed.
Carrefour reported 15 affected stores in Belgium. In Ireland, 13 SuperValu stores removed chilled and frozen products. Their owner, Musgrave, said the incident was resolved later that day and restocking was under way.
Similar attacks disrupted French stores in October. France's cybersecurity authority warned against leaving refrigeration controls exposed directly to the internet. Who carried out the latest attacks, and whether all the incidents were connected, remained unclear.
