Hundreds of Supermarkets Hit by Simultaneous '50°C Fridge' Cyberattack

[Anchor]

A cyberattack manipulating refrigerator temperatures has hit hundreds of large supermarkets in France. Hackers targeted security vulnerabilities in refrigeration systems, raising the temperatures to as high as 50 degrees Celsius and resulting in the disposal of massive amounts of frozen food.

Gwak Sang-eun reports.

[Reporter]

A large supermarket in France.

The frozen food section is empty.

A notice is posted on the glass door stating that the sale of frozen foods has been temporarily suspended due to technical issues.

[Customer: There really is nothing left. There is nothing.]

Between the night of the 11th and the 12th, local time, the temperatures of refrigeration and freezing facilities skyrocketed up to 50 degrees Celsius at hundreds of supermarkets across France.

Melted and spoiled foods were discarded in heaps.

[Julien Freret / Supermarket Manager in France: A cyberattack occurred on our store software. We are in a situation where we have to discard all fresh and frozen foods in the store.]

Major French retail chains, including Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarche, and Systeme U, were simultaneously hit, with nationwide losses estimated to reach millions to tens of millions of euros.

French authorities are focusing on security vulnerabilities in the refrigeration control systems.

The problematic system was manufactured by Danish company Danfoss, and the company stated that the affected equipment consisted of "older models that no longer support security updates."

Cybersecurity experts have raised the possibility that similar damage may have occurred in Spain, Poland, Germany, and Belgium as well.

The French Prime Minister's Office stated that it is cooperating with various European nations to verify damage and is investigating the possibility of other companies being exposed to risk.

It has not yet been confirmed who carried out this attack or for what purpose, raising growing concerns that evolving cyberattacks could even threaten global food security.

(Video editing: Park Choon-bae, Video source: X @SilviusBerthold)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.