Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) - Dozens of Belgian food stores and the huge "IKEA" store witnessed a significant increase in the temperatures of their refrigerators on Monday, while several concerned companies confirmed that they had been subjected to a cyber attack.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 15:35

This is part of a series of cyber attacks targeting store refrigerators, accompanied by suspicious actions linked to supermarkets across Europe.

The two Swedish supermarket chains, "Ika" and "Kob", announced that a number of supermarkets in Sweden had witnessed a significant increase in refrigerator temperatures early Monday, without explaining the reason.

On October 12, major French retailers reported that hundreds of store refrigeration systems had been subjected to a cyberattack, forcing them to throw away spoiled food and raising concerns about food security.

The Carrefour chain in Belgium announced a disturbance in about 15 of its 700 stores across the country. Carrefour Belgium spokesman Mich Verguin said, "It is a cyber attack. There is no other reason."

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for IKEA Belgium also said that a cyber attack targeted the chain's branch in Mons, in the southwest of the country, which led to a sudden rise in refrigerator temperatures in the early hours of Monday morning.

She added that this store is the only IKEA store that was affected, due to its reliance on a different service provider than the rest of the stores in Belgium, without revealing the identity of the provider.

Meanwhile, supermarket chain Delhaize reported that the cooling systems in "dozens" of its stores were affected by a technical incident.

Delhaize did not specify the reason, but an AFP correspondent who visited a store in Portmerbeek, northeast of Brussels, saw empty refrigerators with a sign holding hackers responsible.

It read: "Due to cyberattacks, there will be no products in refrigerators or freezer shelves. We sincerely apologize."

The Colruyt and Intermarche supermarket chains also reported to AFP that they had been exposed to technical problems affecting refrigerators in five stores and about 15 stores, respectively, without confirming whether a cyber attack was suspected.

A spokesman for Intermarche said that the matter affected “in some cases one refrigerator, so the extent of the impact was very limited,” noting that the incidents occurred on the night of Sunday and Monday.

In Sweden, the Ika and Cobb chains said they were looking into what caused temperatures in their refrigerators to rise, forcing them to throw away food items.

An Ika store in Siobo, southern Sweden, reported on Facebook that its refrigerators “were subjected to electronic hacking and the temperature in them was raised to 50 degrees” Celsius.

More than 500 supermarkets were targeted in France on October 12. The equipment was provided by the Danish company Danfoss.

© 2026 AFP

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