Cyberattack on supermarket refrigeration systems in France spoils large quantities of food

A cyberattack targeting refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets across France has caused temperatures in refrigerators to rise to as high as 50C, resulting in the spoilage of huge quantities of food.

Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday, October 13, citing the incident as a major information technology disruption.

At least 300 Intermarché and Netto stores, more than 100 outlets operated by Coopérative U, 80 Carrefour stores, around five per cent of Monoprix outlets and several E.Leclerc supermarkets were affected by the remote hacking attack.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said the attack triggered forced defrosting cycles in refrigerated display units, leaving retailers with no choice but to discard fresh and frozen products.

Thierry Cotillard, chief executive of Intermarché, said the unprecedented incident had caused financial losses amounting to tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day.

Given the scale of the disruption, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu ordered the National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI) to investigate. Authorities are also coordinating efforts to determine whether supermarkets in other European countries have been affected.

ANSSI said hackers had exploited a vulnerability in software developed by Danish company Danfoss to remotely interfere with refrigeration systems. Danfoss, however, said only stores running older software or firmware versions had been affected, adding that it had previously advised customers to upgrade their systems.

Cybersecurity experts said Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium had also experienced similar problems.

Security analysts have described the incident as a global warning, stressing the need for international cooperation to prevent similar attacks on critical infrastructure, including energy facilities and hospitals.