Major French Supermarket Chains Hit by Cyber-Attack, Food Stock Impacted
The CEO of Cooperative U confirmed a cyber-attack affected the food stock in several stores from October 11
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“Our teams are fully mobilized, in coordination with refrigeration specialists, to restore the situation as quickly as possible. An investigation will be needed to shed full light on this attack,” he said.
He also highlighted that refrigeration systems are “essential to preserving fresh products and supplying food to the French public” and said this attack is “of utmost gravity, unprecedented [and] unacceptable."
Speaking to Infosecurity , a Groupement Mousquetaires spokesperson confirmed that 150 of its Intermarché stores and 30 of its Netto brand were affected by the cyber-attack, estimating the financial loss at "at least thousands of euros."
Meanwhile, a Carrefour spokesperson said the incident "primarily affected 80 out of our 6000 stores" and Groupe Casino said 5% of Monoprix supermarkets are impacted by the attack.
French news channel BFMTV reported that the compromised systems are administered by Danish refrigeration systems provider Danfoss. An Intermarché spokesperson has since confirmed these details to Infosecurity .
The attackers targeted outdated versions of the manufacturer’s freezing and refrigeration control software, the spokesperson confirmed. Affected stores include those operating vulnerable Danfoss consoles with remote-control capabilities that lacked an adequately secured communication channel.
“Hackers reportedly managed to remotely trigger forced defrost cycles in refrigeration systems at numerous supermarkets, with temperatures programmed to reach as high as 50 °C (122°F),” BFMTV reported .
BFMTV reported that as a result of the incident two supermarkets alone, an Intermarché and Super U, have already recorded losses of €270,000 ($302,000) worth of merchandise in Haguenau, in the Alsace region of eastern France near the German border.
Intermarché said it was yet impossible to estimate how much food would be wasted due to the attack.
"Our legal and insurance teams have started investigating the incident," the spokesperson added.
Other purportedly affected supermarket networks include E. Leclerc and Monoprix, Jonathan Le Borgne, author of the specialized retail news website Je bosse en grande distribution, has reported . E. Leclerc has acknowledged Infosecurity's request for comment but has yet to provide a response.
Supermarkets in Belgium and the Netherlands were also reportedly affected.
In its statement, Danfoss also said that it had "long advised" businesses to keep supported systems up to date.
On October 13, the Danish company will be at Chillventa in Nuremberg, a three-day trade fair for refrigeration technology, where it is planning to showcase the new iC7-HVACR drive featuring “integrated cybersecurity features.”
