Hackers attacked the refrigeration and freezer systems of at least 17 companies in the Netherlands, changing the temperature settings of the equipment. According to NOS, the country’s major supermarket chains were not affected. Those impacted included butcher shops, small neighborhood stores and a warehouse for frozen products.
At the warehouse, the freezers, which normally operate at minus 20 degrees, had been set to minus 10. A representative of the supplier Danfoss said: “The systems there should normally be set to minus 20 degrees, but during the night we found that they had been set to minus 10. We were able to intervene quickly.”
On October 13, the company recommended that its Dutch customers disconnect the refrigeration equipment from the internet and reconnect it only through a secure network. According to the Danfoss representative, most stores followed the instructions, but some did not. These were the systems that were attacked. They were not sufficiently protected and used standard passwords.
Belgian supermarkets also affected
In Belgium, the hacker attack affected refrigeration systems at Carrefour and Delhaize locations. Carrefour reported problems at 15 of its 700 stores, while Delhaize said that dozens of locations had been affected. One Belgian supermarket estimates its losses at €60,000.
The Belgian agency for food chain safety instructed the affected stores to check the temperatures of their refrigerators and freezers themselves to determine whether the products were fit for sale. Local media published photos of empty shelves in some of the affected locations.
Freezer in Estonia set to plus 50 degrees
One store belonging to the Selver chain was attacked in Estonia. According to ERR, the hackers gained access to a computer controlling the refrigeration system and set the freezer temperature to 50 degrees above zero.
Selver spokeswoman Marian Jervela said the attack had taken place at one location and had been detected quickly. “This was the last Selver store where the new system had not yet been introduced,” she said. According to her, no damage was done to the products because the normal temperature was restored within about 10–15 minutes.
Similar attacks have also been recorded in Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland and France. In Ireland, stores were forced to throw away food, while in France, in previous incidents, refrigeration systems had been switched to defrost mode.
In October, hackers also attempted to infiltrate the digital systems of the Dutch chain Albert Heijn. The company shut down its systems, which disrupted deliveries to stores and made online orders impossible. NOS notes that there is no evidence that this case was connected to the attacks on the refrigeration systems.
Sources: ukrinform.ua, nos.nl, news.err.ee