The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on Monday into an overnight cyberattack on refrigeration systems at hundreds of French supermarkets. Hackers raised the temperature of refrigerators and freezers, which Paris investigators told TIME may have sparked fires and caused food to spoil.
“Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people is of extreme gravity and is unprecedented,” Dominique Schelcher, CEO of French supermarket chain Cooperative U, posted on X.
The incident has raised concerns about the threat of cyberattacks on food security as food supply chains increasingly rely on network-connected systems.
Read More: FBI Probes Possible Dark Web Sale of Over 153 Million Driver’s License Scans. How Can You Protect Your Info?
Supermarkets typically use central control panels to manage multiple refrigeration units. Many of these control panels are connected to the internet to allow maintenance companies to remotely access them. But the French government said Monday that exposing a management interface to the internet is “contrary to best practices,” and that remote administration should be restricted to trusted IP addresses if it is necessary.
Danfoss told news outlets that it was “aware of incidents in France affecting a limited number of refrigeration management systems.” The company said the affected units “were running outdated firmware” and that it “long advised customers to keep supported systems updated with the latest firmware and to migrate legacy systems to current-generation solutions.”
Around 180 Intermarche or its Netto brand supermarkets were targeted, parent company Les Mousquetaires told TIME, although BFM-TV reported a higher count of 300. At least 100 Cooperative U stores and 80 Carrefour outlets, as well as around 5% of France’s Monoprix stores and several E.Leclerc outlets were also affected, the retailers said. Independent grocery stores and butchers that use the same refrigeration system may also have been affected.
Two supermarkets in Alsace, Intermarche and Super U, reported losses of 270,000 euros, according to BFM-TV. An Intermarche in La Haye, Normandy, posted on Facebook that temperatures reached 80°C (176°F), causing some equipment to melt. Supermarket owners described throwing out nearly a dumpster’s worth of frozen food.
TIME has reached out to Danfoss and major French retailers for comment.
Growing cyber threat to food and agriculture
No other countries have confirmed related breaches so far.
In late August, at least six U.S. military commissaries reported refrigeration outages, resulting in spoiled chilled and frozen products. Military investigators are investigating the outages, but have not commented on the nature of the investigation.
Also on Monday, Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize took several systems offline as a precautionary measure amid “a security issue within its network.” The retailer operates the Netherlands’ biggest supermarket chain Albert Heijn, as well as several U.S. grocery brands, including Stop & Shop, Hannaford, and Food Lion. In a Monday statement, Dutch retail brands Albert Heijn, Etos, and Gall & Gall said they were dealing with a cybersecurity incident. There is no established link between these incidents and the French cyberattack.
The European Union’s cybersecurity agency ENISA also noted that food production, processing and distribution were among the sectors most affected by ransomware claims in its latest E.U. threat assessment.
Prior to Monday’s attack in France, cybersecurity firm Claroty published an August report that showed how flaws in Danfoss’s AK-SM 800A controller could allow an intruder to bypass a login and gain control of software used to control supermarket refrigeration. Danfoss’s firmware updates included fixes for those flaws.
Hence then, the article about cyberattack on supermarket fridges in france highlights food systems vulnerability was published today ( ) and is available on Time ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Cyberattack on Supermarket Fridges in France Highlights Food Systems’ Vulnerability )
Also on site :