conv.

All stories
SecurityActive today · day 6

Second wave of fridge-hacking cyberattacks spreads to 13 European countries

Hackers remotely cranked supermarket refrigeration units up to 50C across Sweden, Belgium and a growing list of countries, destroying food and prompting EU and UK warnings.

newest coverage 4d agosummary written 4d ago637 pieces57k likes & upvotes2.7k comments Hacker NewsXRedditNewswiresMastodonGoogle NewsBlueskyYouTube

What to know

  • A second wave of fridge-control hacks has now hit at least 13 European countries, following an earlier October attack on roughly 700 French supermarkets.
  • Attackers remotely raised refrigeration temperatures to 50-55C, spoiling food worth millions of euros and forcing retailers to dump stock.
  • EU and UK officials describe the attacks as a deliberate, recurring threat to food supply infrastructure, with the UK's cybersecurity chief warning further attacks are coming.
  • Technical discussion centers on why refrigeration controllers are exposed to the internet at all, with reports of default factory passwords and unpatched, end-of-life systems.

The dispute Whether exposing refrigeration controls to remote internet access is an inherently reckless design choice or a legitimate operational necessity that was merely implemented insecurely (weak passwords, no VPN, EOL systems). · positions read across 205 posts and comments

most voices

This is a basic, avoidable security failure by retailers and vendors who exposed critical systems with weak or default credentials.

  • “This is a total failure by the vendors of these freezers.”

    lambdaone · Hacker News ↗
many voices

Remote control of commercial refrigeration is genuinely complex (deadbands, defrost cycles, compressor pressure) and can't simply be replaced with a manual knob.

  • “The problem is that these refrigerator cases are not as simple as your refrigerator at home... You also have control over defrost cycles, compressor pressure and many other things”

    chromaton · Hacker News ↗
some voices

This looks like Russian hybrid warfare designed to test Europe's resilience and spread fear.

  • “A certain large country to the east of Europe is testing Europe's resilience and has been doing so for many years in various ways... It has been Putin's playbook for more than a decade”

    Prestigious_Sea_5121 · Reddit ↗
some voices

Mocking disbelief that basic appliances like fridges can be hacked at all, and that stores didn't disconnect after the first French attack.

  • “You connect appliances to the internet, this is what you get. You should not be able to hack yoghurt.”

    TheBreadmonkey · Mastodon ↗

Christophe Hansen EU food and agriculture commissionerJohn Billow Head of Sweden's national cybersecurity centreStephan Moelans CEO of Sabcobel, operator of Delhaize's refrigeration systemsICA / Coop Swedish supermarket chainsAhold Delhaize Dutch retailer, parent of Belgian/Luxembourg stores hitUnidentified hackers Perpetrators of the attacks

Second wave of fridge-hacking cyberattacks spreads to 13 European countries
theguardian.com

How it unfolded 6 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesvideospostscomments

Peak 164 pieces in two hours at Nov 2, 6 AM; 637 pieces over 6 days (317 articles · 13 videos · 174 posts · 133 comments) Nov 2, 2 AM — 4 pieces · 4 posts — Hacker News 2, X 1, Reddit 1Nov 2, 4 AM — 30 pieces · 18 articles · 10 posts · 2 comments — Newswires 10, Google News 6, Mastodon 6, +3 moreNov 2, 6 AM — 164 pieces · 99 articles · 37 posts · 28 comments — Newswires 76, Mastodon 27, Google News 19, +4 moreNov 2, 8 AM — 54 pieces · 22 articles · 17 posts · 15 comments — Hacker News 15, Newswires 13, Mastodon 10, +3 moreNov 2, 10 AM — 58 pieces · 23 articles · 1 video · 12 posts · 22 comments — Reddit 12, Hacker News 12, Newswires 11, +5 moreNov 2, 12 PM — 64 pieces · 30 articles · 2 videos · 18 posts · 14 comments — Newswires 21, Mastodon 13, Hacker News 10, +4 moreNov 2, 2 PM — 25 pieces · 14 articles · 1 video · 7 posts · 3 comments — Newswires 9, Mastodon 5, Google News 5, +3 moreNov 2, 4 PM — 30 pieces · 10 articles · 10 posts · 10 comments — Google News 7, Hacker News 7, Mastodon 7, +3 moreNov 2, 6 PM — 9 pieces · 1 article · 4 posts · 4 comments — Reddit 4, Mastodon 3, Hacker News 1, +1 moreNov 2, 8 PM — 13 pieces · 8 articles · 2 videos · 3 posts — Google News 7, Mastodon 2, YouTube 2, +2 moreNov 2, 10 PM — 5 pieces · 3 articles · 2 comments — Newswires 2, Google News 1, Hacker News 1, +1 moreNov 3, 12 AM — 10 pieces · 3 articles · 2 videos · 5 posts — Mastodon 4, Newswires 2, YouTube 2, +2 moreNov 3, 2 AM — 4 pieces · 1 article · 1 video · 1 post · 1 comment — Hacker News 1, Mastodon 1, Newswires 1, +1 moreNov 3, 4 AM — 31 pieces · 12 articles · 6 posts · 13 comments — Reddit 14, Newswires 8, Google News 4, +3 moreNov 3, 6 AM — 22 pieces · 15 articles · 1 video · 6 posts — Google News 8, Newswires 7, Mastodon 4, +3 moreNov 3, 8 AM — 21 pieces · 18 articles · 3 posts — Google News 9, Newswires 9, Mastodon 2, +1 moreNov 3, 10 AM — 6 pieces · 3 articles · 1 post · 2 comments — Newswires 2, Reddit 2, Hacker News 1, +1 moreNov 3, 12 PM — 12 pieces · 5 articles · 1 video · 6 posts — Mastodon 5, Newswires 5, Reddit 1, +1 moreNov 3, 2 PM — 7 pieces · 2 articles · 2 posts · 3 comments — Reddit 3, Mastodon 2, Google News 1, +1 moreNov 3, 4 PM — 3 pieces · 2 articles · 1 post — Newswires 2, Mastodon 1Nov 3, 6 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Nov 3, 8 PM — 5 pieces · 1 article · 1 post · 3 comments — Reddit 2, Mastodon 1, Newswires 1, +1 moreNov 3, 10 PM — 5 pieces · 4 articles · 1 comment — Google News 4, Hacker News 1Nov 4, 12 AM — 1 piece · 1 comment — Reddit 1Nov 4, 2 AM — 3 pieces · 1 article · 1 post · 1 comment — Reddit 2, Newswires 1Nov 4, 4 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Mastodon 1Nov 4, 6 AM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 comment — Google News 1, Reddit 1Nov 4, 8 AM — 4 pieces · 2 articles · 1 post · 1 comment — Newswires 2, Hacker News 1, Reddit 1Nov 4, 10 AM — quietNov 4, 12 PM — 4 pieces · 2 articles · 1 post · 1 comment — Bluesky 1, Mastodon 1, Reddit 1, +1 moreNov 4, 2 PM — quietNov 4, 4 PM — quietNov 4, 6 PM — quietNov 4, 8 PM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Nov 4, 10 PM — 1 piece · 1 video — YouTube 1Nov 5, 12 AM — quietNov 5, 2 AM — quietNov 5, 4 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Nov 5, 6 AM — quietNov 5, 8 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Nov 5, 10 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Nov 5, 12 PM — 6 pieces · 3 articles · 3 posts — Newswires 3, Bluesky 1, Mastodon 1, +1 moreNov 5, 2 PM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 post — Bluesky 1, Newswires 1Nov 5, 4 PM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Nov 5, 6 PM — 2 pieces · 2 posts — Reddit 1, Mastodon 1Nov 5, 8 PM — quietNov 5, 10 PM — 1 piece · 1 post — Reddit 1Nov 6, 12 AM — 1 piece · 1 comment — Reddit 1Nov 6, 2 AM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 comment — Reddit 1, Newswires 1Nov 6, 4 AM — quietNov 6, 6 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Nov 6, 8 AM — quietNov 6, 10 AM — 2 pieces · 2 posts — Mastodon 2Nov 6, 12 PM — 2 pieces · 1 article · 1 video — Newswires 1, YouTube 1Nov 6, 2 PM — 1 piece · 1 article — Mastodon 1Nov 6, 4 PM — quietNov 6, 6 PM — quietNov 6, 8 PM — quietNov 6, 10 PM — quietYesterday, 12 AM — quietYesterday, 2 AM — 4 pieces · 3 articles · 1 post — Newswires 2, Mastodon 2Yesterday, 4 AM — 2 pieces · 2 posts — Mastodon 2Yesterday, 6 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Yesterday, 8 AM — quietYesterday, 10 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Yesterday, 12 PM — quietYesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 4 PM — quietYesterday, 6 PM — 3 pieces · 1 post · 2 comments — Reddit 2, Mastodon 1Yesterday, 8 PM — quietYesterday, 10 PM — quietToday, 12 AM — quietToday, 2 AM — quietToday, 4 AM — 1 piece · 1 comment — Reddit 1Today, 6 AM — quietToday, 8 AM — quietToday, 10 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Hacker News 1Today, 12 PM — quiet 12–345–6
Nov 3Nov 4Nov 5Nov 6yesterdaynow · 1:14 PM ET
  1. 6

    UK cyber chief warns attacks are 'just the start' as stores rush patches

    The UK's cybersecurity chief said the fridge attacks were only the beginning of similar incidents, as European supermarkets rushed to upgrade systems and patch vulnerabilities exposed by the campaign.

    1. 11 outlets European supermarket fridges got hacked. Again. Here's what to know

      first by Japan Today, 4d ago · also Indian Express, Naharnet, Philadelphia Inquirer, Independent UK, Yahoo! Finance Canada, Tech Xplore +4

      1 more headline
    2. 9 outlets European supermarket fridges and freezers hit by second cyber attack

      first by ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 5d ago · also AP News, Japan Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Denver Post, Orlando Sentinel, Baltimore Sun +2

      1 more headline
    10 more claims →
    • raphae.li

      Just hit @reuters.com wire: US OFFICIALS WARN OF 'ONGOING CYBER THREAT' TO INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS

      raphae.liBluesky3d ago24▲view on Bluesky ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 32 posts in this stretch

    • Perhaps this is not quite the point you had intended to make, but I really am mystified at all of the explanations for why internet-connected freezers and refrigerators are being used. When people ask, "Why are they connected to the internet?" I don't think they're literally communicating that they don't know and want someone to tell them. I think…

      gravy_makerr/technology2d agoview on r/technology ↗

    • US # cybersecurity agency # CISA , the # FBI , and several other federal government departments warned in a joint statement that hackers are targeting and compromising internet-connected refrigeration and cold chain monitoring systems in # grocerystores and # coldstorage facilities. The statement said that the hacks are hitting critical…

      BenjaminHCCarr@hachyderm.ioMastodon2d agoview on Mastodon ↗
    all of them →
  2. 5

    Poland confirmed, bringing total to 13 countries hit

    Two refrigeration systems in Poland — a small grocery store and a food distribution facility — were attacked, bringing the total number of European countries targeted in the campaign to 13.

    “Poland has joined the list, bringing the total to 13 European countries targeted in the refrigeration cyberattack campaign.”
    — @InsiderGeo
    1. 2 outlets Refrigeration systems in dozens more European grocery stores targeted in apparent cyberattack

      first by Straight Arrow, 6d ago · also CBS News

      1 more headline
    2. 1 outlet Hackers disrupt refrigeration systems at European supermarkets

      first by BleepingComputer, 6d ago

    • UPDATE: Poland has joined the list, bringing the total to 13 European countries targeted in the refrigeration cyberattack campaign. Two refrigeration systems in Poland were attacked yesterday, targeting a small grocery store and a food distribution facility. Employees noticed

      @InsiderGeoX5d ago430▲view on X ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 15 posts in this stretch
    • npr.org

      NPR investigated cyberattacks on the digital devices that control industrial refrigerators, revealing the extent to which operational technology is exposed to damage and disruption.

      npr.orgBluesky5d ago212▲view on Bluesky ↗

    • A certain large country to the east of Europe is testing Europe's resilience and has been doing so for many years in various ways. That's one reason. The other is to panic people, to make them afraid. Along with other tactics - broader cyberattacks on governments and corporations, attacks on transport and energy infrastructure, disinformation…

      Prestigious_Sea_5121r/europe5d agoview on r/europe ↗
    all of them →
  3. 4

    Confirmed victim list grows to ten countries, two more suspected

    Researcher Lukasz Olejnik listed confirmed fridge-hack victims in Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Estonia, the Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Germany and Italy, with Poland and Romania suspected, alongside extensive confirmed losses of refrigerated food.

    “Confirmed fridge cyberattack victims in Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Estonia, Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Germany, Italy. Suspected in Poland and Romania. Extensive losses of refrigerated food are confirmed…”
    — Lukasz Olejnik
    1. 9 outlets Fridge cyberattack hits supermarkets across Europe

      first by The Hindu, 5d ago · also SecurityWeek, CNBC, Channel News Asia, Courthouse News, Dawn, Yahoo +2

      2 more headlines
    • LukaszOlejnik@mastodon.social

      Confirmed fridge cyberattack victims in Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Estonia, Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Germany, Italy. Suspected in Poland and Romania. Extensive losses of refrigerated food are confirmed

      LukaszOlejnik@mastodon.socialMastodon5d ago21▲view on Mastodon ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 19 posts in this stretch

    • This is a total failure by the vendors of these freezers.If you charge money for something that is critical national infrastructure - and the food delivery pipeline is absolutely CNI - and you connect it to the Internet, you should also be responsible for keeping it secure - or at the very minimum at least trying to do so.The same goes for other…

      lambdaoneHacker News5d agoview on Hacker News ↗

    • FFS, if you can hack multiple facilities across multiple countries why make food more expensive ? You could be getting Putin's copy of Trump's peepee tape. You could be diverting crypto like Best Korea. You could be scrambling the nuclear codes. Why attack food? The grocers aren't going to lower prices, they just lost inventory. They are going to…

      quequotionr/worldnews5d agoview on r/worldnews ↗
    all of them →
  4. 3

    Belgian and Swedish operators scramble to contain damage

    Sabcobel, which runs Delhaize's refrigeration systems in Belgium, said it mobilized technicians overnight to disconnect affected units; Sweden's cybersecurity centre said many exposed operational technology devices needed patching.

    “We started mobilising technicians at 1am…”
    — Stephan Moelans, CEO of Sabcobel
    1. 19 outlets A fresh wave of cyberattacks has hit Europe's supermarket refrigerators, destroying food across countries

      first by TechCrunch, 6d ago · also SCMP, CNBC, ABC Australia, Quartz, The Canberra Times, Australian Broadcasting Corporation +12

      18 more headlines

    • BREAKING: Europe is under a massive cyber attack, with supermarket fridges and freezers in Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland and Estonia all hacked today by raising temperatures to up to 50°C, destroying huge quantities of food, per Reuters.

      @HormuzLetterX6d ago13k▲view on X ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 87 posts in this stretch
    • angiebaby

      Okay, so when the first group of European supermarkets lost all of their cold and frozen foods due to IoT hacking, the other European supermarkets disconnected their freezers from the internet, right? Right?

      angiebabyMastodon6d ago17▲view on Mastodon ↗
    • csolisr.hub.azkware.net.ap.brid.gy

      The Great Remote Unthawing of 2026 continues. Sadly, it's hardly a "cyberattack" because most of these freezers are directly exposed online, with what amounts to a single Cheeto of security (a.k.a. default passwords).

      csolisr.hub.azkware.net.ap.brid.gyBluesky6d ago2▲view on Bluesky ↗
    all of them →
  5. 2

    Attack spreads to at least seven countries, EU commissioner reacts

    Retailers in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden reported refrigeration failures; EU food and agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen called the attacks a deliberate threat to the food supply chain.

    “a deliberate attempt to disrupt our food supply chain and undermine consumers’ confidence in it…”
    — Christophe Hansen, EU food and agriculture commissioner
    1. 12 outlets European supermarkets targeted in reported cyberattack impacting Belgium, Estonia, Luxembourg and Sweden

      first by DW.com, 6d ago · also The National UAE, The National, Deutsche Welle EN, CTV News, NBC News, Reuters +5

      10 more headlines
    2. 10 outlets Supermarket freezers soar to 55C across Europe as cyberattacks spread

      first by The Times, 6d ago · also The Independent, The Telegraph, CNBC, Free Press Journal, RuntimeWire, International Business Times +3

      10 more headlines
    4 more claims →

    • BREAKING: Europe is under a massive widespread cyber attack right now Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Estonia, Ireland the Netherlands and just now Finland are all experiencing disruptions to supermarket refrigeration systems causing food to go off. The attack is spreading...

      @WarMonitor3X6d ago37k▲view on X ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 47 posts in this stretch
    • TheBreadmonkey@beige.party

      What did I say? You connect appliances to the internet, this is what you get. You should not be able to hack yoghurt. Shop freezers in six European countries hit by suspected cyber-attack https://www. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq1kd1 nee80eo

      TheBreadmonkey@beige.partyMastodon6d ago288▲view on Mastodon ↗
    • catherinefeore.bsky.social

      I remember covering an event - about 100 years ago - on the Internet of Things, it was going to be the next new thing. Even then I wondered if I would ever want an alert to learn that the milk in my fridge had past its use by date, only to ignore it

      catherinefeore.bsky.socialBluesky6d ago3▲view on Bluesky ↗
    all of them →
  6. 1

    Swedish chains ICA and Coop report overnight fridge hack

    ICA said several stores were hit by a cyberattack overnight that remotely set refrigerators and freezers to 50C; Coop said six of its shops were affected, with one store blaming the malfunction directly on hackers.

    “The temperature of freezers at several Swedish grocery stores rose sharply overnight, operators ICA and Coop said, with at least one store blaming the incident on a cyberattack…”
    — Reuters
    1. 8 outlets Freezers at supermarkets in several European countries hit by apparent cyberattacks

      first by NY Post, 6d ago · also PBS NewsHour, Times of Israel, Yahoo, ABC News, Philadelphia Inquirer, KCCI +1

      4 more headlines
    2. 6 outlets European Supermarkets Hit by Cyberattack

      first by HotAir, 6d ago · also TechRadar, Digit, Euro Weekly News, Telegraph India, Seeking Alpha

      5 more headlines
    6 more claims →

    • BREAKING: 🇸🇪 Swedish grocery giant ICA, one of Sweden's largest supermarket chains, says several of its stores have been hit by a cyberattack overnight, causing refrigerators and freezers to be remotely set to 50°C. The incident has likely resulted in large quantities of food

      @InsiderGeoX6d ago977▲view on X ↗
    2 more of the top 3 · 5 posts in this stretch

    • There's nothing wrong with network connected fridges. A large supermarket chain will have 1000s of fridges than needed to managed. The issue is securing the management portal: by either keeping it inside the corporate network but that's not always possible with SaaS services, in that case mandatory MFA and unique password should be a requirement…

      coomzeer/europe6d agoview on r/europe ↗
    • hrbrmstr@mastodon.social

      Now grocery store freezers in Sweden seem to have been hacked in similar fashion as was done in France — https://www. reuters.com/business/retail-co nsumer/temperature-soars-swedish-grocery-store-freezers-one-store-blames-hackers-2026-11-02/

      hrbrmstr@mastodon.socialMastodon6d agoview on Mastodon ↗
    all of them →
  7. background

    Hackers hit ~700 French supermarket fridges in first wave — Hackers seized control of cooling units in as many as 700 supermarkets in France, raising temperatures as high as 50C and causing fires and food losses estimated in the tens of millions of euros; supplier Danfoss later advised Dutch clients to disconnect systems from the internet.

Also covered reported alongside — the timeline has no entry for these yet

  1. 4 outlets US warns of ’ongoing cyber threat’ to industrial refrigeration systems

    first by Investing.com News, 3d ago · also TechCrunch, CNBC, Channel News Asia

    2 more headlines
  2. 4 outlets Shop freezers in seven European countries hit by cyber-attack

    first by BBC Business, 6d ago · also Guardian Business, ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC

    3 more headlines
  3. 4 outlets Freezers Hacked, Food Ruined Across Europe

    first by RedState, 6d ago · also Financial Times, NYT, SBS

    3 more headlines
  4. 4 outlets Second wave of refrigeration cyberattacks hits European supermarkets

    first by Help Net Security, 6d ago · also CyberInsider, Globe and Mail, The Record

    3 more headlines
  5. 3 outlets Hackers Weaponize Freezers As Supermarkets Face New Cyber Attacks

    first by Forbes Business, 3d ago · also HN Frontpage, BBC

    1 more headline
  6. 3 outlets UK meat suppliers’ fridges heat up after cyber attacks hit Europe

    first by The Independent, 5d ago · also Evening Standard, Guardian

    2 more headlines
  7. 3 outlets Cyber attacks affect UK meat processing industry, top security official says

    first by Sky News, 5d ago · also Anadolu Agency, Sky News Business

    1 more headline
  8. 3 outlets Are freezers being hacked? Europe and the US military are investigating.

    first by Boston Globe, 5d ago · also Japan Times, Euronews

    2 more headlines
  9. 3 outlets Fresh wave of fridge cyberattacks hits European supermarkets

    first by France 24 EN, 6d ago · also Le Monde EN, Euronews

    2 more headlines
  10. 2 outlets Hackers probed Europe’s fridge systems weeks before cyberattacks

    first by Mastodon, 1d ago · also Euronews

    1 more headline

and 43 smaller pieces

What people are saying 10 voices from 5 sites · best of 205 · verbatim

Still unanswered
  • Who is actually behind the attacks — a state actor like Russia, criminal hackers, or opportunistic scanning of exposed systems (e.g. via Shodan)?
  • Why didn't retailers harden their systems after the first French attack weeks earlier?
  • How many more countries or stores will be affected as the campaign continues?