Suspected cyberattacks spoil food at European supermarket chains

Suspected cyberattacks disrupted refrigeration systems at European supermarket chains, with affected-store counts ranging from dozens to more than 115. Ahold Delhaize reported an "IT incident" Sunday night at Delhaize stores in Belgium. Carrefour Belgium said 15 of 700 stores were affected; Spar reported 5; Coop Sweden said 7 were hacked; SuperValu removed chilled and frozen products from 13 Irish stores. Some Swedish and Belgian sites saw 50–55°C; an ICA Kvantum store in Sjöbo posted that freezers hit 50°C, and a Stockholm store discarded spoiled food after failure. Finnish K-food stores "experienced temperature anomalies overnight"; Kesko security head Petri Kaihu said the company began investigating after automated alerts when staff arrived. An Estonian Selver store on an older Danfoss system had a fault resolved within minutes. Country lists differ between wire roundups and Bloomberg. Some causes remain under investigation; coordination is unclear; no group has claimed responsibility. The events follow an October attack on about 700 French stores that forced food discards and, Paris prosecutors said, some equipment fires. A Danfoss spokesperson said the firm’s products were implicated in both; no technical link has been established.