More than 115 stores in Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Luxembourg, Ireland and Estonia were hit overnight from Sunday to Monday after attackers remotely changed the settings of their refrigeration systems, BleepingComputer reports. In some cases fridges and freezers were shut down; in others the defrost mode was switched on remotely. An ICA store manager in Sweden said the temperature had been set to +50°C and could not be changed, and frozen goods had to be thrown away.
Ahold Delhaize reported several dozen affected stores in Belgium and Luxembourg, Carrefour 15 of its 700 stores in Belgium, Coop 7 of more than 800 stores in Sweden, and the Colruyt Group about five Spar stores. All stores stayed open, and some moved stock into refrigerated trucks. It is unclear whether this was one coordinated attack or separate intrusions.
According to the reports, the refrigeration systems at several of the stores were supplied by Belgian firm Sabcobel. Its director, Stephan Moelans, said the attackers used the same vulnerability as in last month's attack on supermarkets in France, and that a software update alone is not enough: the units also need physical modifications. Until then, the advice is to manage the units only through a secure internet connection. Technicians began disconnecting affected installations at 1 a.m.
