NBC News·4 min read·medium

Investigators hunt hackers who heated French supermarket fridges, sparking fires and spoiling food

R
Reuters
Investigators hunt hackers who heated French supermarket fridges, sparking fires and spoiling food
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Hackers targeted hundreds of French supermarkets by remotely accessing and adjusting cooling unit temperatures, leading to spoiled food and significant financial losses. Authorities are investigating the breach as a critical vulnerability in connected supply chain systems.

Why it matters

The attack demonstrates the severe real-world consequences of insecure Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure in the retail sector.

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French investigators on Tuesday were hunting the hackers who seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets in a cyberattack that underlined the vulnerabilities of connected systems, with no group publicly claiming responsibility. The cyberattack, which manually overrode the temperatures at fridges in supermarket groups including Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarche and Cooperative U, appears to have been easy to pull off, three cyber experts told Reuters. Staff at some Paris supermarkets threw boxes full of perished meat and frozen goods into giant trash containers on Tuesday. At least 350 supermarkets — a small fraction of the total number in France — were caught up in the strike. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu instructed France’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to investigate, a person in his office said.

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