Overview
- Since October, repeated waves of intrusions have affected hundreds of retail cold‑rooms across Europe, with researchers estimating roughly 900–1,000 sites probed or hit.
- Attackers accessed exposed operational‑technology (OT) controllers and changed settings to force continuous defrosts and extreme setpoints, with staff finding controllers reporting implausible temperatures such as 150°C and defrost cycles set to 50°C.
- The hacks have caused large food losses, localized fires and near‑misses at blood‑storage sites where alarms and human intervention prevented product loss.
- French authorities have publicly blamed an IRGC‑linked unit for the major October campaign while some pro‑Russian groups have also claimed responsibility, and cross‑border criminal and military cyber teams are coordinating investigations.
- U.S. and European cyber agencies issued joint technical advisories and are urging retailers to isolate or replace end‑of‑life controllers, change default credentials, apply patches, and invest in resilience measures such as thermal storage to reduce future harm.