Hackers manipulated the temperature settings of refrigerators and freezers in French supermarkets, raising them to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) during the night. The Paris prosecutor's office described the large-scale cyberattack as affecting connected refrigeration units in several major food retailers throughout France.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu ordered the National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to conduct an investigation into the breach. Felix Aime stated that Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium were also impacted by the incident.
Carrefour confirmed that 80 of its supermarkets were hit by the hackers. Monoprix reported that 5% of its stores experienced issues due to the attack.
Around 150 Intermarche stores owned by Les Mousquetaires saw fridges heated to 50 degrees Celsius for a period of six hours overnight. Dominique Schelcher said that 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.
ANSSI identified a vulnerability in software provided by the Danish company Danfoss. Danfoss acknowledged it was aware of incidents in France affecting a limited number of refrigeration management systems.
The company stated that the affected units were running outdated firmware. Cybersecurity firm Claroty's Team82 published research on August 9 detailing vulnerabilities in the Danfoss AK-SM 800A controller.
Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize took several systems offline as a precaution because of a security issue on its network. Delhaize stated there was no reason to see a link between the incidents in France and its supermarkets.
