Hacker attack on European supermarkets, summit at Palazzo Chigi

A wave of cyberattacks has targeted the commercial refrigeration systems of supermarkets in several European countries, with repercussions also felt in Italy. On November 3, 2026, the government convened an emergency summit at Palazzo Chigi, bringing together Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, the heads of the intelligence services and the National Cybersecurity Agency.

A statement released by Palazzo Chigi after the meeting, reported by La Stampa, clarified that in Italy the impact of the attacks was limited and that no cases emerged of risk to citizens’ health linked to the accidental thawing of products. The text nonetheless calls on all institutional bodies to maintain a high level of attention on the matter, without, however, speaking of an ongoing alert.

On Italian territory, the most concrete case concerns Sicily, where outlets of the Coop chain in Catania and Palermo were involved: in these stores, the refrigeration systems of the food counters are reported to have been altered by the cyber intrusion. The sources consulted do not report, at this time, similar cases in other regions.

The European picture described by Il Fatto Alimentare is broader. In Belgium, about forty outlets of the Delhaize chain and fifteen of the Carrefour chain are reported to be involved. In Ireland, thirteen stores of the SuperValu chain have been flagged as compromised. The same source reports the involvement of other commercial outlets in Estonia and Luxembourg, confirming a campaign that has affected several EU countries within the same timeframe.

The origin of the attack and the technical methods by which the refrigeration systems were compromised remain unclear at this time: neither the Palazzo Chigi statement nor the European sources cited provide details on this point. The summit convened in the Italian capital focused on verifying the impact on national territory, rather than on attributing the attack to a specific actor.