A cyberattack has disrupted refrigeration, delivery and pricing systems at supermarket chains across France, Belgium and the Netherlands, impacting at least 700 stores so far. The hack caused fridges to heat up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius).
CNBC reports that the attack forced refrigeration units at supermarkets including Intermarché, Leclerc and Coopérative U into a continuous defrost cycle at 122 degrees. Normally these units defrost for about two hours a day. Sources described “a wave of heat” escaping from fridges and freezers as a result. The attack reportedly targeted refrigeration controls made by Danfoss, and also hit deliveries and in-store pricing through electronic shelf labels.
Dominique Schelcher, president of Coopérative U, confirmed the incident earlier this week. In an English translation quoted in the article, he said: “A cyberattack has been affecting the refrigeration production facilities of several stores in our network since last night.” He called the situation “extremely serious” and said teams had been mobilized to fix the problem, with an investigation to follow.
Losses are expected to climb into the millions of Euros as shops are forced to discord spoiled food.
According to Reuters, the hack was perpetrated on refridgerators made by Danfoss, which blamed “outdated firmware:”
The source close to Lecornu said ANSSI had identified a vulnerability in software supplied by Danish company Danfoss.
Danfoss said it was “aware of incidents in France affecting a limited number of refrigeration management systems”.
The affected units “were running outdated firmware”, Danfoss said, adding that it had “long advised customers to keep supported systems updated with the latest firmware and to migrate legacy systems to current-generation solutions”.
No one has claimed credit for the cyberattack or has made a ransom demand as of this writing. Breitbart News has reported extensively on infrastructure sabotage, which this hack may prove to be.
Breitbart News reported in September that a train derailment in France was suspected to be a sabotage incident:
The regional train was carrying 186 passengers from Rouen to Caen when it derailed Friday evening at Cléon, in the Seine-Maritime department of northwestern France.
An 18-year-old woman was among the injured and was evacuated by helicopter to Rouen University Hospital, police said.
A spokeswoman for the French national police communications service, known as SICOP, said that the piece of rail found on the track was “probably” linked to the derailment. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasn’t authorized to be publicly named in line with police policy.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.