Cyberattack Spoils Coop Food as State Security Mobilizes

At least four Coop supermarkets in Sicily lost control of their refrigeration systems in a suspected cyberattack, leaving shopkeepers to discard overheated food as national security agencies and government officials prepared to meet. Three stores were in Catania and one in Palermo. The incident struck a retail system, but the response soon involved police, cybersecurity officials, intelligence agencies and Palazzo Chigi.

Food spoiled, systems exposed

The attack happened at around four in the morning. Stores opened to spoiled food. Retailers had to throw it away. Danilo Radenza, Coop Radenza’s chief executive, said the attack targeted the remote control system for frozen-food counters. “We have verified that it is an attack on our remote control system for frozen-food counters. After a careful screening it appears there is no further damage, but the attack did take place,” he said.

Giuseppe Spadaro, general manager of the Radenza group, which runs the Coop supermarkets, first reported the Italian incidents to Ansa. Spadaro said the postal police were piecing together the attacks’ origin and scale, while checking for links to incidents in other European countries.

The Sicilian incidents form part of a wider series affecting around a hundred supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Estonia and Ireland. Dozens of supermarkets in six European countries were hit on Monday night, and refrigerator temperatures rose to 50°C or above. No one had claimed responsibility, and the report said the attacks appeared connected.

The security apparatus convenes

The National Cybersecurity Agency (Acn) said it had received a report about an incident affecting a Tuscan company in the collective catering sector. It also detected an attack against an Emilia company that produces frozen foods. The agency urged food-distribution chains to check urgently whether control and remote-assistance systems are exposed on the Internet, strengthen remote access through VPNs and multi factor authentication, review privileged accounts, and update or replace devices manufacturers no longer support.

The Agency, sector federations and the main national large scale retail companies planned to meet the following day. Postal police were investigating possible links to incidents elsewhere in Europe. The Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (Copasir) was due to request information from the government on Tuesday.

Palazzo Chigi chose to convene a separate meeting to investigate the events. The Director of the National Cybersecurity Agency and heads of the intelligence agencies were expected to attend. Alfredo Mantovano, the undersecretary to the prime minister’s office, would coordinate the meeting. The EU called the situation “highly worrying.”

A cross-border chain of incidents

The Sicilian stores weren’t the only supermarkets facing refrigeration damage. Another cyberattack struck the main supermarket chains in France on 12 October, causing losses of millions of euros. The source gives no year for that attack. Across the incidents, authorities and companies continued to examine the scale, origin and possible connections; no perpetrator had publicly claimed responsibility.

For retailers, the immediate toll was spoiled food in stores, with damage still being calculated. For government bodies, the matter called for police reconstruction, cybersecurity protocols and intelligence briefings. The Agency’s recommendations point to exposed remote systems and equipment no longer supported by manufacturers as issues food-distribution chains should check. The meetings were planned; the investigation continued.