Fridges in French Supermarkets Hit by Cyber Attack, Spoiling Millions of Euros in Food

3-line summary

• Hundreds of French supermarkets were hit by a cyber attack that caused refrigeration units to heat up overnight into Monday, spoiling fresh and frozen food estimated to be worth millions of euros, according to the BBC. Hackers reportedly gained control of software regulating fridge and freezer temperatures, forcing some units to warm to 50C (120F).
• More than 100 stores of the Coopérative U chain and at least 300 stores from Intermarché and its Netto brand were affected, per AFP; Intermarché said its fridges heated to 50C for six hours overnight and it discarded all affected food over health-safety concerns. Reports also named Carrefour, E.Leclerc and Monoprix as targeted, though those chains had not yet commented. Two stores in the Alsace region alone reported losses of €270,000 combined.
• The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation, calling it a "large-scale cyber-attack affecting the refrigerators of several major food retail chains across France." EU Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen condemned the hack, saying "the weaponisation of food has become a reality." Coopérative U CEO Dominique Schelcher called targeting equipment essential to the French food supply "unacceptable."

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