A computer network hack that managed to shut down grocery store refrigeration and freezer systems in other parts of Europe may also have affected some supermarkets in Finland.
Grocery stores in Sweden operated by supermarket chains ICA and Coop were among those targeted. According to Swedish paper Aftonbladet, refrigerators and freezers in several shops at the chains were shut down, forcing staff to throw out defrosted and unrefrigerated stock.
One ICA shopkeeper in Sjöbo said the hack caused their freezers' temperature to rise to 50 degrees Celsius.
According to Reuters, stores in Belgium and Luxembourg belonging to the Ahold Delhaize supermarket chain have reported an "IT incident" affecting freezers and refrigerators.
Hackers targeted some grocery stores in France last month, with similar results.
Some Finnish shops possibly affected
A number of suspected grocery store freezer disturbances have also been reported in Finland. At least a few individual, smaller Kesko-run stores have observed temperature changes in refrigeration equipment. However the potential cause of the disturbances has not been specified.
The K-market-branded Lönkan Herkku in Helsinki is one of the shops where some refrigeration units malfunctioned on Sunday night.
According to shopkeeper Sami Mustonen, the disruption was short-lived. Some of the refrigeration equipment was out of order for 1–2 hours. Mustonen declined to speculate on the cause of the malfunction.
According to Petri Käyhkö, Head of Security at Kesko, this is not a case of widespread disruption, as the situation has affected only a small number of shops whose refrigerators were not covered by centralised safeguards. The outlets have since taken measures to rectify the situation.
"We are currently investigating the cause, and we have not yet ruled out that it involves disruptions related to the network," Käyhkö told Yle.
A small proportion of shops' refrigeration units were openly connected to the publicly accessible internet, according to Roni Kokkola, an IT security expert at the Cyber Security Centre.
"It is really important for organisations to be aware that any devices that may be connected to the network are kept adequately up to date and protected," Kokkola said.