Suspected OT attacks hit refrigeration systems at supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg
Supermarket chains in Sweden, Belgium, and Luxembourg have reported a new wave of suspected cyberattacks targeting refrigeration systems, following an earlier incident in which attackers reportedly manipulated cooling equipment across hundreds of French stores, causing significant food losses. Unlike typical IT-focused attacks, these incidents affect operational technology (OT) controlling refrigeration, with potential consequences including spoiled food, interrupted operations, financial losses, and food safety risks. Michael Ferdinandsen, CEO of Danish industrial cybersecurity firm Secomea, says the incidents highlight that many retailers lack sufficient control over third-party remote access to refrigeration equipment, which is often exposed to the internet or granted overly broad access by external service providers and maintenance technicians. Investigators are still examining the latest suspected attacks, and no technical details of the intrusion method have been disclosed.
Remediação
Secomea recommends adopting OT-native secure remote access architectures that control connections at the individual asset level rather than granting broad network access, using Edge Gateways near operational assets, centralized access management, granular permissions, and audit logging. The company points to Danish firm AK-Centralen, which uses this approach to remotely monitor refrigeration systems across more than 1,500 supermarkets without direct access to internal networks, as a model combining operational efficiency with stronger security controls. Broader recommendations include vulnerability management, network segmentation, system updates, and continuous monitoring of third-party remote access across OT environments.
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Suspected OT attacks hit refrigeration systems at supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg
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Supermarket chains in Sweden, Belgium, and Luxembourg have reported a new wave of suspected cyberattacks targeting refrigeration systems, following an earlier incident in which attackers reportedly manipulated cooling equipment across hundreds of French stores, causing significant food losses. Unlike typical IT-focused attacks, these incidents affect operational technology (OT) controlling refrigeration, with potential consequences including spoiled food, interrupted operations, financial losses, and food safety risks. Michael Ferdinandsen, CEO of Danish industrial cybersecurity firm Secomea, says the incidents highlight that many retailers lack sufficient control over third-party remote access to refrigeration equipment, which is often exposed to the internet or granted overly broad access by external service providers and maintenance technicians. Investigators are still examining the latest suspected attacks, and no technical details of the intrusion method have been disclosed.
Remediation
Secomea recommends adopting OT-native secure remote access architectures that control connections at the individual asset level rather than granting broad network access, using Edge Gateways near operational assets, centralized access management, granular permissions, and audit logging. The company points to Danish firm AK-Centralen, which uses this approach to remotely monitor refrigeration systems across more than 1,500 supermarkets without direct access to internal networks, as a model combining operational efficiency with stronger security controls. Broader recommendations include vulnerability management, network segmentation, system updates, and continuous monitoring of third-party remote access across OT environments.