Hackers heat French supermarket fridges, sparking fires and food losses

French investigators were searching for the hackers who took control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets in France. Supermarket groups including Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarché and Coopérative U were affected, with fridge and freezer temperatures raised remotely. No group has publicly claimed responsibility. Experts said the attack appeared easy to carry out, pointing to missed software updates and device interfaces exposed to the internet. The breach reportedly affected refrigeration systems using software from Danfoss, Copeland and Dixell. At least 350 supermarkets were hit, and some Paris stores discarded spoiled food.

• Hackers remotely raised temperatures in supermarket fridges and freezers in France
• Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarché and Coopérative U were among the affected groups
• Investigators are looking for the attackers; no group has claimed responsibility
• Experts cite missed Danfoss updates and internet-exposed device interfaces as likely causes

French investigators on Tuesday were hunting the hackers who seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets in a cyberattack that underlined the vulnerabilities of connected systems, with no group publicly claiming responsibility. The cyberattack, which manually overrode the temperatures at fridges in supermarket groups including Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarche and Cooperative U, appears to have been easy to pull off, three cyber experts told Reuters. "According to the information we have, on Monday morning, some supermarkets found that their refrigerators and freezers had been completely tampered with, with settings altered remotely to raise temperatures to 50 C (122 F) or even higher," said Emma Pleut, Head of Cyber for France at WTW. Staff at some Paris supermarkets threw boxes full of perished meat and frozen goods into giant trash containers on Tuesday. At least 350 supermarkets — a small fraction of the total number in France - were caught up in the strike. France's cybersecurity agency has said the breach affected fridges that relied on software by Danish firm Danfoss, as well as Copeland and Dixell software. Although the precise mechanism by which attackers compromised the refrigerators has not been publicly disclosed, cybersecurity experts said all signs pointed to a basic stunt enabled both by the failure to adopt Danfoss' updates and by exposing device interfaces to the internet. For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc Follow Global News on X HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt Follow Global News on TikTok HERE: https://www.tiktok.com/@globalnews.ca?lang=en #GlobalNews