France Says 700 Supermarkets Hit by Refrigerator Hacking... 'Struck at Food Security'

The French government has estimated that about 700 stores were affected by a hacking incident that raised the temperatures of refrigerators in French supermarkets.

According to AP and Reuters, Roland Lescure, Minister Delegate for Industry and Energy, told parliament on the 13th local time that 700 out of about 10,000 supermarkets in France were impacted.

While stating there is no risk to France's food supply, Minister Lescure said that this cyber attack "struck at the heart of our food security and is a wake-up call for everyone."

The Paris Public Prosecutor's Office stated that its cybercrime unit has taken over the investigation and is also examining the scale of damages, including food waste and store fires.

Between the nights of the 11th and 12th, cyber attacks were carried out across France to raise the temperatures of supermarket refrigerators from various companies to 50 degrees.

Danfoss, a Danish company that manufactures related refrigeration systems, explained the previous day that the affected products were older models that no longer receive software and security updates.

This suggests that basic security vulnerabilities may have been targeted.

Typically, hacking groups reveal political motives or demand ransom using stolen information as leverage.

However, no group has claimed responsibility for this attack, leaving investigative authorities perplexed, a source told Reuters.

Dutch supermarket operator Ahold Delhaize is also experiencing a cybersecurity issue causing disruptions to online services, but Dutch authorities believe it is unrelated to the French supermarket incident.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.