Dozens of supermarkets in Belgium and Sweden have been hit by a suspected cyber-attack affecting its fridges and freezers.
Around 40 Delhaize supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg were affected, while several ICA and Coop retailers in Sweden were hit. Thirteen SuperValu retailers have also been impacted in Ireland.
Millions of euros value of food has had to be thrown away, according to native media reports, with one ICA store in Sweden saying temperatures for its freezers had been set to 50 C (122F).
It is not clear who is behind the attack, which follows a related incident last month that affected tons of of French supermarkets.
Both Belgium and Sweden’s national cyber-security companies said they were monitoring the incident.
Delhaize, one of Belgium’s largest grocery store chains, informed Belgian media a “computer incident” had occurred in a single day at 40 retailers.
A Delhaize department in Hoeilaart, in the Flemish Braband province in Flanders, informed Het Laatste Nieuws it had lost €100,000 value of produce.
The supervisor said that estimate did not even take into account further losses that would outcome from closing the store.
Carrefour, a French-owned grocery store, said the incident had only affected 15 of its Belgian shops, including that measures had been taken immediately to guarantee all retailers remained open.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for ICA in Sweden confirmed the incident had affected a “small number of ICA stores operating outside ICA’s central network”.
“ICA is currently supporting the affected stores in managing the situation,” they said.
One of the IVA branches positioned in Sjöbo, southern Sweden, wrote on social media: “Our refrigerators and freezers have been hacked overnight and they have set the temperature to 50 degrees.”
The store was closed earlier but has now reopened to clients.
An worker at a department in Odengatan in the capital Stockholm was pictured throwing away baggage of spoiled food away.
Seven out of the 800 Coop shops in Sweden are also affected but the “situation is currently contained and under control”, the company informed the BBC.
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