Cyberattacks targeting supermarket refrigerators and freezers have spread across several European countries, raising concerns about the vulnerability of food storage systems and the potential for more sophisticated attacks as artificial intelligence becomes widely available.
The latest incidents, reported on Monday, affected supermarket chains in Belgium, Luxembourg, Estonia, the Netherlands and Ireland. Sweden was also affected, with one store attributing an incident to a cyberattack.
The attacks came only weeks after hackers targeted refrigeration systems in between 500 and 700 French supermarkets. In some cases, temperatures reportedly rose to as high as 50 degrees Celsius, putting stored food at risk.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incidents, and authorities have not publicly identified those behind them. French investigators believe the October 12 attack may have involved international actors, although no official attribution has been made.
Marta Rybczynska, founder of cybersecurity company Ygreky, said the absence of a financial motive could suggest that the attacks were intended to create disruption or prepare the ground for further operations.
“Investigators are silent about current results of the investigation in France, but by elimination it is likely that we have some state-supported group behind this,” she told Euronews Next.
She said the latest incidents had made the possibility of an organised group more likely, although copycat attacks could not be ruled out.
Rybczynska believes supermarkets have become attractive targets because their refrigeration systems are relatively easy to access. Instructions for attacking such equipment are also readily available online.
She warned that many retailers had not treated refrigeration equipment as critical infrastructure and had failed to strengthen security after the French incidents.
Refrigerators, heating equipment and security systems are increasingly connected to the internet so staff can monitor and manage them remotely. However, any device linked through an application or cloud network can potentially provide an entry point for hackers. Once inside a network, attackers may change settings, disable equipment or prevent legitimate users from accessing systems.
Pavlina Pavlova, founder of cybersecurity non-profit Critical Cyber, said further attacks were likely because many systems remained vulnerable.
She said some refrigeration controllers operated on outdated software that was difficult or impossible to update. In France, several affected devices were older models that no longer received security updates, despite known vulnerabilities dating back to 2025.
Pavlova described the equipment as accessible but insufficiently protected, making it an attractive target for attackers.
The growing use of artificial intelligence could make the situation more serious. AI tools can help attackers identify weaknesses, develop methods to exploit them and carry out operations more quickly and across larger numbers of devices.
“AI-driven vulnerability detection makes finding and exploiting weak points easier and faster than ever, including in vital functions on which people depend,” Pavlova said.
She warned that defenders could struggle to update and secure systems at the same speed, leaving outdated equipment exposed to increasingly automated attacks.
