Chaos as supermarket fridges in France 'heated to 50C' in 'unprecedented' cyber

Hundreds of supermarket fridges and freezers in France have been hit by a cyber attack, which reportedly saw some of the appliances targeted to heat up to temperatures as high as 50C. Hundreds of locations were targeted, spoiling millions of euros' worth of fresh and frozen food after the software that regulates the temperatures of refrigeration units was allegedly compromised. Hackers are believed to have gained control of the software regulating the temperatures of the refrigeration units, ordering them to heat up and stay hot, bypassing the normal period of defrosting overnight.

Figures supplied by individual chains suggest that 500 stores were affected out of 15,000 or so in France overall. Coopérative U CEO Dominique Schelcher confirmed several of its supermarkets were affected by the "extremely serious and unprecedented" attack.

He said teams were "fully mobilised" to resolve "the situation as quickly as possible". Mr Schelcher wrote on X: "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. It is unacceptable."

AFP news agency reports that over 100 Coopérative U supermarkets were targeted, and at least 300 Intermarché and Netto. Carrefour, Monoprix and E.Leclerc were also hit. Carrefour said 80 of its 6,000 stores were affected, and Monoprix said 5% of its stores were hit.

The Paris prosecutor's office said the "large-scale" ‌attack resulted in "food losses and fires". Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu put the National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) in charge of investigating the incident. His office said France "was coordinating with its European counterparts, as other countries may also be affected".

As a result of the cyber-attack, managers who opened up the affected stores this morning were hit by a wave of hot air from the fridges and freezers.

Some of the shops even reported small fires in light of the incident.

As a result of the incident, many supermarkets had to throw away all the affected goods to avoid any health risks. Among them, Intermarche said it had thrown away all the affected food after its fridges had heated up to 50C for six hours overnight.

Two supermarkets in the Alsace region reported losses of £228,000 between them alone, French broadcaster BFMTV reports.

European Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen condemned the attack in a post on X. He also said: "Food security requires more attention at all levels. Because the weaponisation of food has become a reality."