Food suppliers in UK hit by cyber-attacks after freezers targeted in Europe
Cybersecurity experts say national impact ‘minimal’ but incidents may represent the ‘foothills’ of a wider threat Food suppliers in the UK have been hit by cyber-attacks after hackers raised the temperatures of supermarket freezers across Europe.
Key points
- Supermarkets have reported problems from Estonia and Sweden to Portugal and Italy and many retainers have been forced to discard food.
- The problems follow a case last month in which attackers remotely took control of refrigeration systems in hundreds of supermarkets across France, sending temperatures soaring.
- Supermarkets in countries including Ireland, Sweden and Belgium reported fridges being hiked in temperature on Monday.
Dozens of supermarkets in seven European countries dumped huge quantities of food after refrigerators and freezers were targeted in a cyber-attack.
The temperature of freezers in several shops across Europe reportedly rose to as high as 50C.
Additional details
- The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre said it was working with the affected companies but the national impact was minimal.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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Every article behind this summary — 6 articles from 5 outlets
The Guardian WorldNovember 3, 2026, 5:28 PM UTC →
BBC WorldNovember 3, 2026, 1:55 PM UTC →
BBC NewsNovember 3, 2026, 1:07 PM UTC →
BBC BusinessNovember 2, 2026, 5:38 PM UTC →
BBC BusinessNovember 2, 2026, 5:34 PM UTC →
Global News WorldNovember 2, 2026, 2:13 PM UTC →
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