Hackers Hit Freezers at 115 European Stores; Apple Warns 99 Nations

Coordinated cyberattacks against industrial food-storage controllers in 6 European nations, a wave of Apple mercenary spyware warnings spanning 99 countries, and tit-for-tat intrusions into emergency alert apps in Ukraine and Russia underscored the vulnerability of connected consumer and industrial infrastructure on Monday.

Extortionists Set Freezers to +50°C Across Over 115 European Supermarkets

According to BleepingComputer and The Record by Recorded Future, hackers hijacked internet-exposed refrigeration management systems operated by Sabcobel and other contractors over the weekend, switching store freezers to defrost mode or raising target temperatures to +50°C (122°F) across more than 115 supermarkets in Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Luxembourg, Ireland, and Estonia—just 3 weeks after a similar campaign disrupted roughly 700 stores in France:

• Retail Chains Affected Across 6 Countries: Sabcobel CEO Stephan Moelans confirmed attackers used compromised credentials and exposed Danfoss (AK-SM and AK-SC series) and Copeland/Dixell (XWEB) controllers before sending ransom emails. Affected retailers forced to discard spoiled chilled and frozen food included roughly 40 Ahold Delhaize (Albert Heijn and Delhaize) stores in Belgium and Luxembourg, 15 of 700 Carrefour locations in Belgium, about 15 Intermarché stores, 5 Spar Colruyt stores, 7 of more than 800 Coop stores and at least 4 ICA stores in Sweden, 13 SuperValu supermarkets in Ireland, 1 Selver supermarket in Estonia, and at least 17 independent shops in the Netherlands.
• Regulatory Response Ahead of Dec. 2027 EU Cyber Resilience Act: Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) spokesperson Katrien Eggers urged industrial operators to place building-management controllers behind VPNs and multi-factor authentication ahead of the European Union's Cyber Resilience Act, whose mandatory security requirements take effect in December 2027.

Apple Dispatches Mercenary Spyware Warnings in 99 Countries; Alert Apps Targeted in Ukraine and Russia

Two additional mobile security disclosures were reported Monday by The Record:

• Apple Threat Notifications Across 99 Countries: As reported by The Record by Recorded Future, Apple sent a new round of mercenary spyware Threat Notifications to targeted individuals in 99 countries—bringing total coverage since the program began to more than 150 countries. Recipients who publicly confirmed the warnings included Middle East Eye Turkey bureau chief Ragıp Soylu (whose alert was verified by cybersecurity researcher Costin Raiu) and Lebanese investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Radwan Mortada, while Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton urged recipients to seek immediate forensic assistance.
• Ukraine and Russia Emergency Alert Apps Compromised: In a separate report by The Record by Recorded Future, a group calling itself Hitcore Corp briefly compromised Ukraine's Air Alert (Повітряна тривога) mobile app—developed by Ajax Systems and Stfalcon and used by 6.6 million active users as of January 2026—sending fake radiation warnings and promotional messages before engineers blocked the intrusion. Days later, Kyiv-based hacking collective DC8044 compromised the backend API of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM) mobile app to modify regional push notifications.