Hackers forced defrost mode at about 150 Intermarché stores, ruining food; Cooperative U, Leclerc, and electronic pricing labels were also affected, according to reports.
Hackers disrupted refrigeration systems at roughly 150 Intermarché stores on Sunday night, forcing staff to discard food that could no longer be sold safely. Investigators believe the incident is one piece of a wider cyberattack.
A spokesperson for the supermarket chain told Bloomberg that the attackers gained access to the cooling controls and switched the units into defrost mode, driving temperatures up to 50°C (122°F). Staff did not notice for about six hours, by which point everything stored in the coolers was spoiled.
The attack was not limited to Intermarché. Agence France-Presse reported that fewer than 100 Coopérative U stores were also affected. BMF said some Leclerc stores were impacted, and La Dépêche reported that electronic price label systems were hit too.
According to Bloomberg, the targeted systems were managed by Danfoss. A few months ago, security researchers at Team 82 published a report on several vulnerabilities in Danfoss refrigeration controllers that could allow this type of attack. Given that, it is not surprising that such an attack happened.
The full consequences of the attack are not yet clear, aside from the evident disruption to shoppers, supermarket employees, and food suppliers. Early reports estimate the financial loss at about €300,000, but that could increase significantly as more is learned about the attack’s scope.
Dominique Schelcher, CEO of Coopérative U, said teams have been sent to the affected stores to fix the problem and that the company will carry out a full investigation. No suspects have been publicly named at the time of writing.
It is possible that the attackers were testing the method to show it works. If it were used alongside other destructive attacks on the power grid or utilities, the impact could be severe. This is the type of worst-case scenario that has been predicted for years, and so far it has not happened.
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