Swedish freezers hit with same 50-degree spike as French cyberattack

Refrigeration systems in France recently allowed temperatures to reach 50 degrees Celsius, a level one Swedish store said it detected in its units overnight.

John Billow, head of Sweden’s national cybersecurity centre, confirmed on Monday that his team is responding to multiple incidents affecting store cooling systems across the country. Store operators ICA and Coop reported that freezer temperatures at several locations rose suddenly during the night. A spokesperson for the privately held ICA group told Reuters in an email that a limited number of stores were affected, noting the incident impacted their refrigeration and freezer systems.

Similar disruptions occurred in neighboring countries. Sabcobel chief executive Stephan Moelans told the Belga news agency that dozens of Ahold Delhaize stores in Belgium and Luxembourg experienced overnight temperature increases, which he attributed to a cyberattack. Ahold Delhaize, which had already reported a cybersecurity incident to Dutch police the previous month, described the issue as an IT incident affecting its fridges and freezers. The company is currently investigating the matter.

Coop, another Swedish retailer, informed the daily newspaper Aftonbladet that six of its stores suffered similar incidents. The pattern of failures mirrors the recent cyberattack on hundreds of supermarkets in France, where spoiled food and fires followed the temperature spikes.

The immediate impact includes spoiled inventory and operational strain for affected retailers. Authorities in Sweden are coordinating their response to the multiple confirmed incidents, while European operators monitor their cooling infrastructure for further anomalies.