Freezer Cyber-Attacks Hit Europe's Supermarkets as Italy Convenes Spy Chiefs

Freezer systems in supermarkets in at least nine European countries were disrupted this week by what investigators suspect was a deliberate cyber-attack, and retailers from Estonia and Sweden to Portugal and Italy were forced to discard food. Italy's government convened emergency talks with its intelligence chiefs on Tuesday in response, The Local Italy reported, a day after the first failures were recorded at grocery stores.

The European Union warned that the intrusions appeared to be a deliberate attempt to disrupt the bloc's food supply chain, according to The Local Italy. The BBC, covering the same incident, counted ten affected countries; The Local Italy said at least nine. Neither account reconciles the discrepancy, and no authority quoted in either named an attacker, a motive or a ransom demand.

Neither report identifies which Italian chains or which regions lost refrigeration, or the value of the stock thrown out. The BBC said only that supermarkets had reported problems and that many retailers were forced to discard food. In an ordinary retail intrusion the loss is counted in exposed payment data; here it is counted in spoilage, which is why the EU reached for the language of the food supply chain rather than of fraud.