European supermarket fridge attacks expose cold chain risks

A second wave of attacks on European supermarket refrigeration systems has raised concerns about the cold chain’s vulnerability to remote access and Internet-facing control systems. UK outlets including the BBC and Reuters reported that dozens of supermarkets across seven countries, including Belgium, Luxembourg, Estonia, Ireland, Sweden and Finland, were affected, with Carrefour stating 15 of 700 Belgian stores experienced impacts.

Copeland, which makes controllers for commercial refrigeration, indicated a cybersecurity incident affecting French refrigeration systems linked to a discontinued generation of supervisory controllers. No group has claimed responsibility, and authorities are continuing to investigate.

Researchers have tied the hacks to Internet-connected refrigeration controllers from Danfoss, Dixell and Copeland. The common pattern appears to involve remote access, weak configurations and unpatched vulnerabilities, allowing threat actors to trigger defrost modes by exploiting known issues or using default credentials.

Claroty’s researchers and other security professionals warn that misconfigurations and hygiene failures drive the majority of the threat surface, with unpatched firmware only dangerous when devices are Internet-facing. In the first wave in October, more than 700 stores were affected across France, with smaller spillovers into other European nations. In the current wave, authorities say the impact is comparatively limited but still significant for the affected chains.

The broader view is that many temperature-controlled assets—pharmaceutical storage, food distribution and industrial facilities—are exposed to similar risks if they are remotely accessible and poorly secured.

Security researchers and vendors emphasise that where remote access is necessary, organisations should use secure methods and rotate credentials, while changing default passwords and keeping firmware up to date. The dialogue from Viakoo and Claroty underlines that the same weaknesses could affect other OT and IoT systems beyond supermarket fridges. The inquiry continues as European authorities probe the incidents. 3 November 2026