Fridges in French supermarkets hit by cyber attack
Hundreds of French supermarkets experienced a cyber attack that manipulated refrigeration software to increase temperatures, causing significant food spoilage. The attack targeted older, unpatchable units provided by the Danish firm Danfoss.
Why it matters
This incident demonstrates the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and supply chains to remote cyber attacks on IoT-connected industrial equipment.
Share Save Add as preferred on Google Ian Aikman and Hugh Schofield , Paris correspondent AFP via Getty Images Hundreds of French supermarkets have been hit by a cyber attack that caused their fridges and freezers to heat up, spoiling fresh and frozen food estimated to be worth millions of euros.
Hackers gained control of the software that regulates the temperatures of the refrigeration units, forcing some to warm to 50C (120F) overnight.
The chief executive of Coopérative U said several of its supermarkets had been hit by the "extremely serious and unprecedented" attack.
More than 100 of the chain's supermarkets were targeted, while at least 300 stores from Intermarché and its Netto brand were affected, according to the AFP news agency.
Other major food retailers including Carrefour, Monoprix and E.Leclerc were also hit by the attack, which targeted software provided by Danish engineering firm Danfoss.
Also covering this story
3 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in