Hackers disrupt French supermarket operations | NHK WORLD

Hundreds of supermarkets in France have been hit by a cyberattack that caused their freezers and refrigerators to heat up and spoil food stored inside.

The AFP news agency and other media outlets say hackers targeted multiple French supermarket chains through Monday, and that the attack disabled systems that remotely control the temperatures inside freezers and fridges at more than 400 stores.

Some stores had their defrosters remotely manipulated to raise the temperatures to as high as 50 degrees Celsius. They were forced to throw away frozen foods, ice cream and perishable items.

Footage taken at a supermarket in Paris shows empty freezers.

A company that manages the systems believes hackers could have targeted stores which were using outdated software.

French authorities are calling for stores to keep their software up to date and to maintain security by other means, such as blocking external access.

Separately, an operator of supermarkets in the Netherlands and elsewhere said on Monday that it experienced disruptions in some systems due to a cybersecurity issue.

A Dutch public broadcaster reported that the operator's online systems halted on Sunday afternoon, and some distribution centers came to a standstill, leaving shelves of fresh food empty at stores.

A cybersecurity expert in the Netherlands says there is almost no doubt that malicious actors broke into the systems.