A major chain of supermarkets in France has been hit by a cyberattack that has garnered widespread attention. Hackers ramped up the temperatures of refrigeration and freezing equipment in hundreds of stores to as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), causing equipment fires and spoiling food. Industry executives estimate that the daily losses could amount to tens of millions of euros.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office announced on Monday (October 12) that a “large-scale” cyberattack is affecting the networked refrigeration equipment of several major food retailers in France, resulting in food losses and fires.
According to Reuters, a source from the Prosecutor’s Office revealed that French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has instructed the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI) to launch an investigation into the incident.
The source indicated that France is coordinating with counterparts in other European countries as they may also be affected. Authorities are also assessing the risks faced by other French companies.
Felix Aime, a senior network threat intelligence analyst at the threat detection and research department of Sekoia, stated that Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, and Belgium have also been impacted.
Carrefour reported that 80 of its supermarkets were affected, while Monoprix, which owns around 490 stores in France, mentioned that 5% of its stores were impacted.
The parent company of Intermarché, Les Mousquetaires, revealed that refrigeration equipment in approximately 150 of its stores heated up to 50 degrees Celsius overnight and remained elevated for six hours. A company spokesperson stated that all affected food items had been disposed of to eliminate health risks.
Geert de Clercq, a resident of Paris, witnessed employees of an Intermarché supermarket in the city center pouring a large amount of thawed frozen food into a massive trash bin. Melted ice cream spilled from damaged packaging onto the streets.
Dominique Schelcher, CEO of Cooperative U, indicated that their supermarket group had also become a target of such attacks.
Schelcher wrote on the social platform X, “Damaging equipment vital to the preservation of products and the French public’s food supply is extremely serious and unprecedented.”
As of now, official figures on the losses from this incident have not been disclosed. However, Thierry Cotillard, CEO of Intermarché, told BFM TV that this “unprecedented” attack will result in “daily losses of tens of millions of euros nationwide.”
According to BFM TV, hackers “remotely controlled refrigeration systems in multiple stores, forcing defrost procedures.”
Refrigeration and freezing equipment in supermarkets are typically managed by control panels that oversee the refrigerators and freezers throughout the store. These control panels can be accessed remotely via the internet, allowing maintenance companies to adjust equipment settings from anywhere.
Christel Delberghe, Director General of EuroCommerce, stated, “This event highlights the importance of resilience throughout the entire supply chain.”
The French Retail Federation – French Federation of Commerce and Distribution (FCD) issued a statement saying that supermarkets are working to ensure consumer safety and restore normal operations as quickly as possible. FCD noted that some affected stores have already resumed operations.
An insider informed Agence France-Presse that refrigeration control systems made by the Danish manufacturer Danfoss were targeted in the cyberattack. In a statement, Danfoss mentioned that most of the affected equipment were “legacy” products that no longer receive software or security updates. Danfoss emphasized that the company has long advised supermarkets to upgrade these older systems.
These cyberattacks are reminiscent of the system failures encountered by several US military supermarkets in late August, which also affected refrigeration equipment and led to food losses.
Ahold Delhaize, a Dutch retailer operating the largest chain of supermarkets Albert Heijn in the Netherlands and conducting extensive business in the US and Belgium among other locations, stated that its network is facing “security issues” and has proactively taken some systems offline.
The retailer’s smartphone application displayed a notification stating that food and grocery deliveries were unavailable due to a “cybersecurity incident.”
However, Ahold Delhaize denied any connection between the aforementioned event and the issues faced by its supermarkets.