Refrigeration and freezer systems across multiple Swedish grocery chains, including Ica and Coop, were targeted in an incident that forced temperatures up and ruined large quantities of food. The affected stores span large parts of the country, with locations impacted in Skåne, Öland, Värmland, Stockholm, and several Coop stores in Gästrikland and Hälsingland. Additionally, internet-ordered home deliveries from Hemköp and Willys in Gothenburg were affected. Axfoods press chief Magnus Törnblom stated that home deliveries ordered via the internet from Hemköp or Willys in Gothenburg are impacted.
Spoiled Food and Melted Puddles Fill Stores Across Sweden
At Ica Kvantum in Sjöbo, a freezer’s temperature was reportedly set to 50 degrees, while an Ica store in Böda on Öland found freezers reaching 55 degrees with melted puddles on the floor. Ica Kvantum in Sjöbo noted, We are extremely sad and working hard to throw things away and get everything going again
(SVT). Similar destruction of goods occurred at Ica Supermarket Baronen in Stockholm, Ica Nära St Olof on Österlen, and stores in Karlstad, Hultsfred, and Tomelilla, alongside seven Coop stores in central Sweden. Mats Olsson, an Ica retailer in Böda on Öland, described encountering a puddle on the floor upon arriving at the store in the morning, with the freezer reaching 55 degrees, while Dennis Vidal, store manager in Sankt Olof, mentioned that everything was destroyed though the units were beginning to cool down again. Rickard Nilsson, store manager for Ica in Sjöbo, stated, Everything is destroyed.
Tommy Sundberg, an Ica retailer in Mörlunda in Hultsfred Municipality, remarked, It is so terribly boring,
adding that he had to call in his retired mother and father to assist in discarding destroyed frozen goods.
Cyberattacks Raise Cooling Unit Temperatures in Multiple Countries
The situation mirrors an incident on October 12 in France, where hundreds of stores saw freezer and refrigerator temperatures raised. Similar cyberattacks or IT incidents affecting cooling units have been reported in Belgium, Luxemburg, Ireland, and Estonia, alongside suspected attacks on US military bases. In Belgium, approximately 40 grocery stores were struck in a cyberattack according to Le Soir, with the Belgian news agency reporting that the evaporators of the cooling units were placed into defrost mode. Gustaf Nilsson, press officer at Ica, commented to Aftonbladet that the company provides support to stores in handling the incident, noting they received information and are investigating it. No ransom demands were made against affected grocery chains such as Intermarché, Coopérative U, and Leclerc, and cybersecurity expert Nicklas Keijser urged food stores to disconnect refrigerators and freezers connected to the internet. John Vestberg, CEO of cybersecurity company Clavister, described the situation as a foretaste of societal vulnerability.
Gustaf Nilsson, press officer at Ica, stated that a limited number of stores connected outside Ica’s central network were impacted during the night and that the company is assisting them. The National Cyber Security Centre’s incident management unit at FRA is currently working on the event, with John Billow confirming ongoing contact with those affected.