Cyber attack on markets… Tons of food spoiled

Major supermarket chains in FRANCE, including Intermarche, Cooperative U and Carrefour, were the target of large-scale cyber attacks on Sunday and Monday night. Hackers remotely controlled cooling systems, increasing the temperature of some refrigerators and freezers from -22 to 150 degrees for about six hours. A lot of food was destroyed due to spoilage and health risk.

HUNDREDS OF STORES WERE AFFECTED

Approximately 150 stores of Intermarche were affected by the attack. While Carrefour announced that there were problems in 80 of its 6 thousand stores, Monoprix reported that approximately 5 percent of its more than 400 stores were affected by the attack. More than 100 stores of Cooperative U were also targeted. Problems with cooling systems in some stores led to small fires. Intermarche's owner, Les Mousquetaires group, announced that all affected products were destroyed due to health risks.

THEY ALSO ATTACKED THE NETHERLANDS

It is considered that the attack is linked to the software used by the Danish engineering company Danfoss to remotely manage cooling systems. The company announced that outdated software was used on some affected devices. While the Paris Prosecutor's Office has launched a special cybercrime investigation, France's national cybersecurity agency ANSSI is also examining the attack. On the other hand, it was noted that in the Netherlands, activities were disrupted due to large-scale cyber security problems affecting the supermarket chain Albert Heijn and some other businesses.

Tens of thousands of Euros of damage were reported in just two supermarkets in France.