Updated / Wednesday, 4 Nov 2026
08:52
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Property insurance will not cover damage caused by cyber attack, leaving Estonian retailers to absorb the cost themselves, insurance and retail experts warned.
The warning follows Monday’s attack on a Selver supermarket, where hackers raised a freezer to +50°C. No stock was lost, but a repeat could leave chains paying for spoilage.
The Selver incident was part of a Europe-wide wave of attacks on supermarket refrigeration this autumn. France and the Netherlands were hit in October, and Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg on Monday. In some cases, Swedish stores were forced to discard spoiled stock. From Tuesday, Romania, Germany and the UK had joined the list.
Helen Evert, a cyber insurance expert at insurers IIZI, said property insurance specifically excludes compensation for property damage caused by cyber attacks; cyber insurance policies do cover damage related to information systems and data.
“In that case, you have to have money set aside in your bank account for such crises and accept that you will have to bear the damage yourself. This situation is not unique to Estonia, as international markets have already reported exactly the same information regarding international insurance policies,” Evert told “Aktuaalne kaamera”.
Kaspar Hioväin, IT director of Coop stores, which recently took over outlets formerly operated by Prisma, confirmed this type of security is the responsibility of the stores themselves.
“As at the moment, this is actually a case of negligence on the part of the company itself, as it were. ‘Doors’ have been left open through which malicious actors have entered, bringing with them damage of an unknown extent,” Hioväin said.
Hioväin noted Coop was not hit, but added it has reviewed its systems, and named maintenance partners as the biggest vulnerability. “The biggest risk is maintenance partners. Unfortunately, these devices are managed by third-party companies, generally refrigeration companies or security companies. And they do not have that kind of cyber security expertise either,” he said.
Erki Sirel, chairman of the Eesti külmaliit, the national refrigeration association, disagreed, saying: “There can always be a threat from that direction, although in reality cooperation involves several parties,” adding that installers do not typically act without agreeing with the equipment owner.
Whether Estonian insurers begin offering coverage of this kind depends on the international market. If they do, and with a surge in attacks this seems more likely, premiums will rise. “As attacks are becoming increasingly frequent, it is clear that insurance premiums will also rise in the near future,” Evert said.
Neither Rimi nor Lidl would comment on the issue to ERR. Selver declined to disclose its future security plans for security reasons.
The Information System Authority (RIA) said it had received one notification, from Selver, and that more than 30,000 devices in Estonian cyberspace have known vulnerabilities. Kitman Coldtech, who manufactured the freezer units affected in Monday’s attacks, said other Estonian clients had also been hacked. Older Danfoss refrigeration controllers were most vulnerable, the company said.. Across Europe, the EU has warned the attacks appear to be a deliberate attempt to disrupt the food supply chain, though no one has claimed responsibility and the motive remains unknown.
An article written by Liisbeth Rats (ERR), initially published on 4 November 2026, 08:31 (CET)
