Europe on alert after supermarket freezers hit by cyber-attacks in 10 countries
Supermarkets have reported problems from Estonia and Sweden to Portugal and Italy and many retainers have been forced to discard food.
A spate of cyber-attacks that hit supermarket chains across at least 10 European countries on Monday has prompted European Union officials to warn of a deliberate attempt to disrupt the food supply chain.
Supermarkets have reported problems in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and Sweden, and the significant increase in freezer temperatures has forced retailers to discard food.
Supermarket chains said the temperatures of refrigerators and freezers in some of their shops soared as high as 50C
Mathieu Tilman, a manager at a Delhaize supermarket in Belgium, said he was shocked by this kind of attack: "I don't even understand how anyone could do this... How can we end up throwing away so much food? I find it truly distressing. In moments like these, you just feel like quitting your job."