Hackers manipulate cooling at a Köniz butcher, the first publicly known case of its kind in Switzerland

A first case in Switzerland

Lüthi's Fleischwaren, a butcher chain, said on its website on Thursday, 5 November, that one of its branches in Köniz, in the canton of Bern, had been closed temporarily after a targeted cyberattack. According to the company, hackers took over the electronic control of its refrigeration and freezer units, and significant temperature deviations followed. The cooling systems were disconnected from the network immediately, and the shop stayed shut to rule out any risk to food safety. All processes and equipment are now being checked. SWI swissinfo.ch described it as the first publicly known attack of this kind in Switzerland.

“A targeted cyberattack manipulated the electronic control of our refrigeration and freezer systems.”

The branch is scheduled to reopen on 20 November, but only if the equipment cools reliably again.

Attacks across Europe

Hackers have targeted cooling equipment in several European countries in the weeks before 5 November, with France the most affected, according to SRF News. Shops in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Sweden reported cooling problems in the days before 5 November, 20 Minuten reported. Coop, the Swiss retailer, said it had also registered similar attempts on its refrigeration, but they failed, a spokeswoman confirmed on request. Coop said it runs comprehensive security measures that are reviewed and developed regularly. The company declined to disclose details of those measures or of the cooling devices used in its supermarkets.

SRF digital editor Reto Widmer argued that the affected firms may have underrated the earlier attacks. He wrote that they had roughly three weeks to close possible gaps in their control systems and software. Widmer said the perpetrators are unknown, but that state actors seem likely, since no information so far points to extortion demands, the usual aim of such attacks. He suggested the aim could be to cause chaos and unsettle the public.

Blood banks and the weak point

On Wednesday, 4 November, a report surfaced of manipulated cooling systems at blood banks in France. SRF said the French blood banks use Coolworld, a Dutch company that rents out cooling to pharmaceutical, food, logistics and data-centre businesses. In the supermarket cases, the affected controller came from the Danish company Danfoss, according to SRF. The security gaps in those systems had been known for years but were not closed when the firms updated their software. Widmer said the attack on blood plasma, a valuable and often scarce product, shows that the attackers are serious.

What happens next

Lüthi's Fleischwaren plans to reopen the Köniz branch on 20 November, and all processes and systems are being checked before then. The Köniz case is the first publicly known one in Switzerland, while the blood bank and supermarket cases concern firms in several countries. Widmer wrote that who is behind the attacks remains completely unclear.