Hackers Heat French Supermarket Fridges to 50C

The attack targeted software made by the Danish engineering company Danfoss, which lets shops and maintenance companies manage the temperature of their cooling units remotely over the internet, so anyone who exploits a weakness in the system can control the machines from anywhere. Normally, freezers warm slightly during a short night-time defrosting cycle, but the hackers ordered them to heat up and stay hot. According to a source close to Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI) has identified a weakness in the Danfoss software. The company said the affected units were older models running outdated firmware and that it had "long advised" customers to update or replace such systems. Officials have not said who was behind the attack, which comes amid growing concern in Europe about cyber-attacks; last month, President Emmanuel Macron ordered measures to protect France's critical infrastructure from Russian "hybrid attacks".

Intermarché's chief executive, Thierry Cotillard, told the French broadcaster BFM TV that losses could reach "tens of millions of euros" nationwide in a single day, while two stores in Alsace alone reported losses of €270,000. Dominique Schelcher, head of Coopérative U, called the attack "unprecedented" and of "extreme gravity", and the European Commissioner for food, Christophe Hansen, warned that "the weaponisation of food has become a reality". The problem may not be limited to France: one cybersecurity analyst said shops in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium had also been affected, and French officials are coordinating with European partners. A French retail association said some affected stores were already operating normally again.