Cyberattack raises fridge temperatures at hundreds of French supermarkets

Hundreds of French supermarkets were hit by a cyberattack that took control of the software regulating refrigeration temperatures, the BBC and DW reported. Hackers forced some units to warm to 50C overnight, according to one supermarket chain affected, the BBC said. Intermarché said its fridges heated to 50C for six hours overnight into Monday and that it threw away all affected food to avoid health risks, Reuters reported, according to the BBC.

The BBC reported that more than 100 Coopérative U supermarkets were targeted and that 180 stores from Intermarché and its Netto brand were affected, with a spokesman saying another 100 shops were urgently disconnected from the internet. ABC reported that Les Mousquetaires, which owns Intermarché, said fridges at about 150 of its stores were heated to 50C overnight for six hours. Carrefour said fridges in 80 of its 6,000 stores were hacked, while Monoprix said 5% of its 400-plus stores had been hit, according to the BBC. Figures supplied by individual chains suggest about 400 stores were affected out of 15,000 or so overall in France, the BBC reported.

The attack targeted software provided by Danish engineering firm Danfoss, which allows retailers to manage cold units remotely, according to the BBC. Danfoss said the affected cold units were older models whose security software could not be updated to ward off a risk the firm had identified, and that it had "long advised" businesses to keep supported systems up to date. DW reported Danfoss said the units in question "were running outdated firmware."

French prosecutors opened a cyber-crime investigation, the BBC reported. The Paris prosecutor's office said the "large-scale" attack was "affecting connected refrigerators in several major food retailers across France," leading to food losses and fires, ABC reported. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu instructed France's National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to investigate, and his office said France was coordinating with European counterparts because other countries could also be affected, according to ABC.

Felix Aime, a senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at Sekoia Threat Detection and Research, said Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium had also been affected, ABC reported. DW reported "security issues" in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with Dutch supermarket chain Ahold Delhaize saying it had taken refrigeration systems offline to protect them, though the company said it saw no connection to the French attacks. No group or individual has claimed responsibility, DW reported.

Intermarché CEO Thierry Cotillard told BFM TV the "unprecedented" attack would cause losses of "tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day," ABC reported. Two supermarkets in the Alsace region reported losses of €270,000 (£228,000) between them, BFMTV reported, according to the BBC. Coopérative U CEO Dominique Schelcher wrote on X that targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people was "extremely serious" and "unprecedented."