Key Highlights

  • A cyberattack raised fridge and freezer temperatures at dozens of European supermarkets on Monday, from Sweden to Belgium and Ireland.
  • Chains affected include Ahold Delhaize, Colruyt, ICA, Coop, Carrefour and IKEA, as well as Ireland's SuperValu stores.
  • No group has claimed responsibility, and Danfoss temperature control technology was used in at least some affected units.
  • EU agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen called the incidents a deliberate attempt to disrupt the food Supply chain.

Attack Spreads Across Europe

A hacking attack on European supermarkets spread across the continent on Monday, November 2, 2026, raising temperatures in refrigerator and freezer units at dozens of stores and forcing retailers to throw away food. The incident echoed a similar attack in France last month, when police said hackers seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets, causing fires and food losses.

Ahold Delhaize also reported a Cybersecurity incident to police last month.

Which Retailers Were Hit

The attack hit supermarket groups Ahold Delhaize and Colruyt in Belgium and Luxembourg, and Swedish grocers ICA and Coop. IKEA saw at least one store affected.

Carrefour, which was badly hit in last month's French attack, said 15 of its 700 stores in Belgium were affected. Coop said 7 of its 800 stores were affected by unauthorized tampering with refrigeration systems. Colruyt Group, which operates Spar stores in Belgium under a Franchise system, said five shops had their fridge systems attacked. IKEA said one store in Belgium was affected and that it could not rule out disruptions elsewhere.

In Ireland, wholesaler Musgrave said systems at 13 of its SuperValu stores were affected, forcing it to remove some chilled and frozen products from sale. Musgrave said its monitoring systems alerted it to the issue, that it took immediate action, and that its investigation is ongoing.

ICA said a "limited number of stores were affected by an incident overnight, which impacted their refrigeration and freezer systems."

Temperatures Soared Inside Stores

A sales manager at an ICA franchise store in Stockholm said the attack occurred at 2 a.m. local time but was noticed only hours later, by which time the store's freezers had reached 50 degrees Celsius and its stock was destroyed. At an ICA Kvantum store in Sjobo, Sweden, staff emptied freezers and loaded frozen goods into shopping carts to be discarded.

The owner of a Belgian butchery chain said he was woken at 3:30 a.m., rushed to his store south of Antwerp and found the fridges turned up as high as 18 degrees Celsius. He estimated the incident ruined about EUR 15,000, or about USD 16,800, of meat, and said the systems that record temperature can be programmed from a distance.

Danfoss Technology and the French Precedent

At least some of the refrigerator units affected on Monday used temperature control technology from Danish firm Danfoss, which was also targeted in the French attack. Danfoss said it has been working with customers to implement fixes. Coop said Danfoss was among its suppliers.

Who Is Behind It

No one has claimed responsibility for either attack. The incidents have heightened concerns among European authorities about hybrid threats to infrastructure amid growing security tensions since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in sabotage or hybrid warfare operations. Who was behind Monday's attacks, and whether they were linked to the incidents in France, could not be established.

Katrien Eggers, spokesperson for Belgium's Centre for Cybersecurity, said it is not known who is behind the attack and it may never be determined. She said she is concerned about the growing number of incidents, in part due to AI. "All IT systems are potentially vulnerable, and AI can now be used to successfully exploit these weaknesses," she said.

A researcher at a cybersecurity firm said such attacks are typically linked to extortion, political motives or nation state operations, and that the absence of financial demands in recent cases points instead to sabotage.

Why Retail Is Exposed

An expanding range of devices once largely mechanical, from refrigerators and heating systems to security cameras and alarms, can now be monitored and controlled remotely, creating new opportunities for cybercriminals. The researcher said retail chains run enormous estates of refrigeration controllers, building management systems, door access panels and point of sale equipment, and that hackers targeting such systems are hard to trace because an attacker who logs into an exposed control panel leaves almost nothing behind.

European Commission Response

The European Commission said the incidents highlight how digital threats are becoming increasingly disruptive. "They are a deliberate attempt to disrupt our food supply chain and undermine consumers' confidence in it," said EU agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen. "The repeated occurrence of these cyberattacks is deeply concerning."

What to Watch Next

Items on the calendar include whether any group claims responsibility, the outcome of police and company investigations, fixes rolled out by Danfoss to its customers, any further affected stores or retailers, and any additional response from the European Commission.