Hackers tamper with fridges at 17 Dutch firms as attacks spread

Hackers tampered with fridges at at least 17 businesses in the Netherlands overnight, Danish manufacturer Danfoss has told broadcaster NOS, as similar attacks hit supermarkets in Belgium, Luxembourg and Sweden, including dozens of branches of Albert Heijn’s sister chain Delhaize.

A Danfoss spokesperson told NOS that the Dutch systems targeted were used by businesses including butchers and small neighbourhood shops, but would not name them. None of the Dutch victims is a large supermarket, he said. Albert Heijn also told NOS none of its branches was affected.

One of the businesses impacted was a frozen food storage site. “The systems there are normally set to -20°, but last night we found they were at -10°,” the spokesperson said. “We were able to step in quickly.”

Danfoss advised Dutch customers on October 13 to disconnect the systems from the internet. Those hit overnight were not on a secure network and still used a default password, the spokesperson said.

A Delhaize spokesperson confirmed the hack on Monday morning, newspaper HLN reported, and said shops in both Flanders and Wallonia had been hit. Delhaize, which is calling it an “IT incident”, told NOS that some branches in Luxembourg had also been affected and that it had immediately disconnected its refrigeration systems from the internet.

Carrefour told Flemish broadcaster VRT that 15 of its 700 Belgian stores had been hit. Colruyt said five independently run Spar stores had similar problems, and butcher chain De Laet & Van Haver also reported a sudden rise in temperatures.

RTL Info reported temperatures rising to around 15°, mainly in freezers. Store managers got a text message from Delhaize at around 4am warning them of the problem, and some stores brought in refrigerated lorries to save their stock.

In Belgium, equipment from another manufacturer, Copeland, was also attacked, NOS reported.

In Sweden, supermarket group Ica said a “limited number” of its stores had been affected overnight, and Coop told news agency TT that six of its stores in central Sweden had problems with their refrigeration. One Ica store in southern Sweden said on social media that its fridges and freezers had been set to 50°.

French attack
Last month, on the night of October 11, hackers raised the temperature of refrigeration systems at hundreds of French supermarkets, including Intermarché, E.Leclerc and Coopérative U stores, to 50°, destroying fresh and frozen food.

The stores used equipment from Danfoss, which told news agency AFP that most of the affected systems were outdated and no longer received security updates.

Delhaize and Albert Heijn are both owned by Zaandam-based Ahold Delhaize, which reported a cyberattack to Dutch police in October after shutting down several IT systems. Delhaize told NOS it was investigating whether that attack was linked to Monday’s hack.