Several ICA grocery stores in southern Sweden reported on Monday that their refrigerators and freezers had been hacked, leaving cooling equipment unable to hold proper temperatures. The affected locations include Sjöbo, Tomelilla, Brösarp, Hammenhög and Sankt Olof on the Österlen region, according to SVT Nyheter.
The Sjöbo store said in a Facebook post that temperatures had climbed to 50 degrees Celsius, and that it had been closed through the morning while staff worked to reopen around nine o'clock. "We are extremely sorry and are working flat out to throw things away and get everything running again," the store wrote, as reported by SVT Nyheter.
Why it matters
The disruption shows how dependent everyday food retail has become on networked control systems, and how quickly a digital intrusion can turn into physical loss. Refrigeration is one of the most safety-critical functions in a supermarket: once temperatures rise, perishable goods have to be destroyed rather than sold. For the stores involved, the incident means both lost stock and lost trading hours, and for customers it means empty shelves and disrupted routines.
It also raises questions about the exposure of connected equipment in smaller retail sites. The affected shops are spread across a rural part of southern Sweden, suggesting that whatever happened was not confined to a single location.
Store staff emptying freezers
At the ICA in Sankt Olof, manager Dennis Vidal told SVT Nyheter that staff were clearing out the freezers because there was little else to do. He said the units were beginning to cool again, but that everything inside had been ruined.
Hanna Lindén, who owns the ICA in Hammenhög, described the situation as unpleasant and hard to make sense of. "It's unpleasant, and you don't understand it," she told SVT Nyheter.
The Sjöbo store's public message struck a similar tone of frustration, apologising to customers while describing an intensive clean-up effort.
ICA confirms incident and offers support
Gustaf Nilsson, head of press at ICA, said the company had received information about what happened and was looking into it further. He said ICA was aware that a limited number of stores had been affected by an incident during the night that disrupted their cooling and freezing systems, and that the company was now giving the stores support in handling it.
Nilsson did not, in the remarks reported by SVT Nyheter, specify how the systems were accessed, who was responsible, or how many stores were ultimately affected. The stores themselves have described the problem as hacking in their social media posts.
The reports were carried by multiple Swedish outlets on Monday, including Aftonbladet, Expressen and Sveriges Radio, which reported that freezers at one food store had been set to 50 degrees.
What to watch
ICA's investigation is ongoing, and the company has not yet said publicly how the intrusion occurred or whether other locations could be affected. Customers in the Österlen area should expect limited availability of chilled and frozen goods at the stores involved while restocking and repairs continue.