overnight into Monday, pushing freezer temperatures as high as 50 degrees Celsius, according to a sales manager at an ICA franchise in Stockholm, and forcing stores from Sweden to Belgium to throw out spoiled food

Supermarkets in Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and Estonia reported temperature spikes in refrigerator and freezer units, NBC News reported. Ahold Delhaize and Colruyt said an IT incident overnight had sent temperatures soaring in dozens of their stores in Belgium and Luxembourg, while Sweden's ICA and Coop reported similar spikes, including at an ICA Kvantum store in Sjöbo and an ICA store in Stockholm. At one ICA franchise in the Swedish capital, sales manager Engla Ingwall told Reuters the attack happened around 2 a.m. local time but wasn't discovered for hours. "Everything is destroyed," she said, describing coolers full of ruined meat, dairy and produce.

The incident follows a larger attack on French supermarkets on the night of October 11 into October 12, when hackers seized control of refrigeration units at several hundred stores operated by Intermarché, Netto, Coopérative U, Carrefour, Monoprix and other chains. That attack pushed freezer temperatures high enough to spark fires in some locations and spoiled large quantities of food across the country. French investigators have not identified who was behind it, and no group has publicly claimed responsibility.

Monday's attacks likewise remain unattributed. No claim of responsibility has been made for the attacks on European grocers to date, and Reuters could not establish who was behind Monday's attacks or whether they were linked to the incidents in France.

The pattern points to a common vulnerability: refrigeration and freezer units that are connected to the internet for remote monitoring but not always secured to the same standard as a retailer's broader computer network. At least some of the refrigerator units affected on Monday used temperature control technology from the Danish firm Danfoss, which was also targeted in the French attack, and the company said it had been working with customers to implement fixes.

For American observers, the episodes have raised a question rather than a prediction: whether similar industrial control systems tied to refrigeration in the United States carry the same exposure.

For now, the toll is measured in discarded groceries and anxious store managers rather than ransom payments, and the identity of the attackers, in both France and the latest round across five more countries, remains an open question for investigators.

References

1. 1.Reuters (via CNBC, USNews) — quote from ICA sales manager Engla Ingwall ('Everything is destroyed') and timing of the Stockholm attack
2. 2.AP (via PBS, ABC News, TechXplore) — countries affected: Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Estonia, Finland
3. 3.CNBC — Ahold Delhaize and Colruyt statements on stores affected in Belgium and Luxembourg
4. 4.Euronews — Belgian investigation and Sabcobel CEO comments on Delhaize refrigeration systems
5. 5.Wikipedia / NBC News / CNN / Al Jazeera — details on the October 11-12, 2026 French supermarket refrigerator hack, chains affected, and investigation status
6. 6.Al Jazeera — French cybersecurity guidance to disconnect affected freezer models from the internet
7. 7.BoingBoing — assessment that no ransom was demanded, suggesting possible sabotage motive
8. 8.AXIOS — framing of the question of whether U.S. supermarket refrigeration systems face similar risk
9. 9.FORBES, SKYNEWS, FINANCIAL TIMES — coverage of the November 2026 European refrigerator cyberattacks
10. 10.Reuters via US News (https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-11-02/temperature-soars-at-swedish-grocery-store-freezers-one-store-blames-hackers) supports Engla Ingwall as sales manager at an ICA franchise store in Stockholm, telling Reuters the attack occurred at 2 a.m. (0100 GMT) and was only noticed hours later.
11. 11.NBC News (https://www.nbcnews.com/world/europe/european-supermarkets-hit-new-fridge-cyberattack-rcna606972) supports that police said hackers seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets in the French attack, causing fires and food losses; France 24 (https://www.france24.com/en/france/20261012-french-supermarket-chains-say-cyberattack-shut-down-refrigerators) supports the overnight Sunday-to-Monday timing and the Intermarché, Coopérative U, Carrefour and Monoprix stores; Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_French_supermarket_refrigerator_hack) supports the 11 October date and the Intermarché, Netto, Coopérative U, Carrefour and Monoprix chains.