Refrigeration systems at 13 SuperValu stores across Ireland have been affected by a suspected cyber attack, resulting in fresh produce having to be thrown away.<\/p>\n
Musgrave, which owns SuperValu, confirmed in a statement that the cyber incident is limited to a specific model of refrigeration.<\/p>\n
It said its monitoring systems alerted them to the issue and immediate action was taken.<\/p>\n
As a precaution, chilled and frozen products in the affected stores have been removed from sale, and all other products remain available as normal.<\/p>\n
It said customer safety is its first priority, and that customers could be confident that products on sale in its stores had been stored at safe temperatures.<\/p>\n
It said its investigations were ongoing.<\/p>\n
A number of stores including the SuperValu in Bray Co Wicklow did not open on time today as planned while staff dealt with the issue.<\/p>\n
SuperValu said it is working with cybersecurity specialists to resolve the issue and restore normal operations as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, dozens of Belgian grocery stores and an Ikea superstore saw their refrigerator temperatures soar on Monday, with several of the firms involved confirming they had been hit by a cyber attack.<\/p>\n
A handful of Swedish supermarkets also saw temperatures in their refrigerators and freezers soar today, Swedish chains Ica and Coop said without giving a cause.<\/p>\n
Carrefour Belgium reported disruption in about 15 of its 700 stores in Belgium. “It’s a cyber attack, there is no other reason,” said Mich Vergauwen, a spokesman for Carrefour Belgium.<\/p>\n
An Ikea Belgium spokeswoman likewise said a cyber attack hit its store in Mons, southwestern Belgium, causing the temperature of freezers to rise suddenly in the early hours of Monday.<\/p>\n
It is the only Ikea store affected because it uses a different service provider than others in Belgium, the spokeswoman added, without identifying the provider.<\/p>\n
The Colruyt and Intermarche supermarket chains likewise said they had been hit by technical problems affecting fridges in five and around 15 stores respectively, without confirming if a cyberattack was suspected.<\/p>\n
“In some cases, it involved only a single refrigerator, so the impact was quite limited,” an Intermarche spokesman said, adding that the incidents took place overnight Sunday into Monday.<\/p>\n
European supermarket chain – Ahold Delhaize – also said that an “IT incident” hit fridges and freezers in dozens \u200cof \u2060its supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg today.<\/p>\n
The \u2060retailer last month reported \u2060a cybersecurity incident to Dutch police.<\/p>\n