Hundreds of supermarkets in France hit by ‘unprecedented’ cyberattack

Hackers raise temperatures in fridges at hundreds of supermarkets, sparking fires and spoiling food in ‘large-scale’ cyberattack.

Cyberattack on French supermarkets causes fires, millions in losses

A cyberattack on refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets in France has raised the temperature of fridges and freezers to as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122F), spoiling food and causing fires at several stores.

Top retailers Intermarche, Cooperative U, E Leclerc and others confirmed the “unprecedented” cyberattack on Monday.

list 1 of 4 Stolen Renoir paintings found behind wall in France following arrests

list 2 of 4 France school shooting: Police detain pupil after two injured

list 3 of 4 French giants Bordeaux relegated to sixth tier for financial irregularities

list 4 of 4 UK, US, Netherlands warn of Iran-linked spyware

At least 300 shops of Intermarche or its Netto brand were targeted, along with more than 100 Cooperative U outlets, the retailers told the AFP news agency.

Carrefour said 80 supermarkets were affected, while Monoprix said about 5 percent of its roughly 490 stores were hit. E Leclerc said several of its stores were targeted.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said the “large-scale” ⁠attack had affected “connected refrigerators in several major food retailers across France”. It led to food losses and fires, the office said.

The attack prompted Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to order France’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to investigate, a person in his office told the Reuters news agency.

The source said France was coordinating with European counterparts because other countries could also be affected, adding that authorities were assessing whether other French companies were at risk.

‘Unprecedented’ attack

There was no immediate estimate of industry-wide losses, but Intermarche CEO Thierry Cotillard told BFM TV the “unprecedented” attack would represent losses amounting to “tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day”.

According to BFM TV, the hackers “managed to remotely trigger the forced defrosting of the refrigeration systems in numerous stores”. The action resulted in the “destruction of stocks of fresh and frozen products”, it said.

Intermarche told AFP that affected stores would have to “throw away all of the products” that were fresh or frozen.

Dominique Schelcher, chief executive of Cooperative U, said the attack had disrupted refrigeration systems since Sunday night.

“Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people is extremely serious and is unprecedented. It is unacceptable,” he wrote on X.

He said the company’s teams were working to restore normal operations as quickly as possible, and that an investigation would be needed to “shed full light on this attack”.

Supermarket cold aisles are typically run by control ⁠panels that manage an entire store’s fridges and freezers and can be accessed over the internet, which lets maintenance companies adjust them from anywhere.

The ⁠source close to Lecornu said ANSSI had identified a vulnerability in software supplied by Danish company Danfoss.

Danfoss said it was “aware of incidents in France affecting a limited number of refrigeration management systems”.

The affected units “were running outdated firmware”, the company said, adding that it had “long advised customers” to keep their systems updated and replace older equipment.

‘A global wake-up call’

The attack came after cybersecurity firm Claroty published research on August 9 describing vulnerabilities in Danfoss systems that could allow attackers to bypass authentication.

France’s retail federation, known as the FCD, called on Danfoss to provide “full transparency”.

It said some affected stores were already operating again.

Felix ⁠Aime, a senior cyberthreat intelligence analyst at Sekoia Threat Detection and Research, told Reuters that Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium had also been affected.

Steven Lachance, a cybersecurity analyst, told Al Jazeera the attack was not unprecedented, though it was rare in its scale. He said that once a vulnerability is found in internet-connected equipment, cyber-attackers can log in remotely and trigger its features.

“We have connected infrastructure that is live on the internet, and that can be hacked. It’s a new reality,” he said, describing the attack as “a global wake-up call”.

“We absolutely need national and international measures to prevent these attacks, because otherwise it’s just going to keep happening,” he said.

While retailers had lost millions of euros in food, the next target could be worse, Lachance warned. “It could target energy infrastructure or hospitals,” he said.

黑客提高数百家超市冰箱的温度，引发火灾并导致食物变质，这是一起“大规模”网络攻击。

法国超市遭网络攻击引发火灾，损失数百万欧元

法国数百家超市的制冷系统遭到网络攻击，导致冰箱和冰柜的温度高达 50 摄氏度（122 华氏度），造成食物变质，并在多家商店引发火灾。

周一，顶级零售商 Intermarche、Cooperative U、E Leclerc 等证实了这起“史无前例”的网络攻击。

被盗的雷诺阿画作在法国警方逮捕后于墙后被发现（共4幅），以下是第1幅。

法国校园枪击案（共四起，此为第二起）：两名学生受伤，警方拘留一名学生

法国四大豪门之一的波尔多因财务违规被降级至第六级别联赛。

英国、美国、荷兰警告称，伊朗可能存在间谍软件（共4个名单中的第4个）。

零售商告诉法新社，至少有 300 家 Intermarche 或其 Netto 品牌的商店以及 100 多家 Cooperative U 门店成为攻击目标。

家乐福表示有80家超市受到影响，而Monoprix则表示其约490家门店中约有5%受到影响。E Leclerc表示其多家门店成为攻击目标。

巴黎检察官办公室表示，这起“大规模”袭击影响了“法国多家大型食品零售商的联网冰箱”。该办公室称，袭击导致了食品损失和火灾。

据路透社报道，法国总理塞巴斯蒂安·勒科尔努办公室的一名人士透露，此次攻击促使总理下令法国国家网络安全局（ANSSI）展开调查。

消息人士称，法国正在与欧洲其他国家协调，因为其他国家也可能受到影响，并补充说，当局正在评估其他法国公司是否面临风险。

“史无前例”的袭击

目前尚无对整个行业损失的立即估计，但 Intermarche 首席执行官 Thierry Cotillard 告诉 BFM 电视台，这次“史无前例”的袭击将造成“全国范围内一天内数千万欧元的损失”。

据BFM电视台报道，黑客“远程触发了多家商店冷藏系统的强制除霜”。报道称，此举导致“大量新鲜和冷冻产品被毁”。

Intermarche 告诉法新社，受影响的门店将不得不“扔掉所有”新鲜或冷冻产品。

Cooperative U 的首席执行官 Dominique Schelcher 表示，自周日晚以来，此次袭击已导致制冷系统中断。

“针对对保鲜产品和法国人民食品供应至关重要的设备进行攻击，是极其严重且史无前例的。这是不可接受的，”他在X上写道。

他表示，公司团队正在努力尽快恢复正常运营，并表示需要进行调查以“彻底查明此次袭击的真相”。

超市冷藏区通常由控制面板控制，这些控制面板管理整个商店的冰箱和冷柜，并且可以通过互联网访问，这使得维护公司可以从任何地方进行调整。

一位与莱科尔努关系密切的消息人士称，法国国家安全信息系统管理局 (ANSSI) 已发现丹麦公司丹佛斯提供的软件存在漏洞。

丹佛斯表示，“已知晓法国发生的一些事件影响了数量有限的制冷管理系统”。

该公司表示，受影响的设备“运行的是过时的固件”，并补充说，该公司“长期以来一直建议客户”保持系统更新并更换旧设备。

“全球警钟”

此次攻击发生在网络安全公司 Claroty 于 8 月 9 日发布研究报告之后，该报告描述了丹佛斯系统中的漏洞，这些漏洞可能允许攻击者绕过身份验证。

法国零售联合会（FCD）呼吁丹佛斯公司提供“完全透明的信息”。

声明称，部分受影响的门店已经恢复营业。

Sekoia Threat Detection and Research 的高级网络威胁情报分析师 Felix ⁠Aime 告诉路透社，西班牙、葡萄牙、波兰、德国和比利时也受到了影响。

网络安全分析师史蒂文·拉尚斯告诉半岛电视台，虽然此次攻击规模罕见，但并非史无前例。他表示，一旦发现联网设备的漏洞，网络攻击者就可以远程登录并触发其功能。

“我们拥有联网的基础设施，这些基础设施在互联网上运行，但也可能遭到黑客攻击。这是一个新的现实，”他说道，并将此次攻击描述为“全球警钟”。

“我们绝对需要采取国家和国际措施来防止这些袭击，否则这种事还会继续发生，”他说。

拉尚斯警告说，虽然零售商在食品方面已经损失了数百万欧元，但下一个目标可能会更糟。“它可能瞄准能源基础设施或医院，”他说。