PARIS: Major French supermarket chains Intermarché and Coopérative U were hit by a cyberattack that caused their refrigerators to defrost, the two retailers told AFP on Monday.
Some 150 to 200 Intermarché shops were targeted, along with almost 100 Coopérative U outlets, they said.
Paris prosecutors confirmed the attack, which reportedly also affected other major chains, and said it had also been linked to outbreaks of fire.
BFM TV reported that France’s largest supermarket chain, E. Leclerc, was also affected, with hackers “managing to remotely trigger the forced defrosting of the refrigeration systems in numerous stores”. Contacted by AFP, E. Leclerc did not immediately confirm the information.
Affected Intermarché branches will have to “throw away all of the products” that are fresh and frozen, the retailer told AFP.
Specialist French retail sector news website jebosseengrandedistribution.fr reported that other retail giants Carrefour Market and Monoprix were also affected, but the companies have yet to confirm this.
‘Unprecedented’
The chief executive of Coopérative U, Dominique Schelcher, described the attack as “unprecedented” and confirmed that the cyberattack had affected refrigeration systems since Sunday night.
“Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people is extremely serious and is unprecedented. It is unacceptable,” he wrote on X.
He added that the company’s teams were “fully mobilised” to restore the situation as quickly as possible.
“An investigation will be necessary to shed full light on this attack,” he added.
The office of the Paris prosecutor confirmed to AFP that an investigation had been opened into “the large-scale cyberattack affecting the refrigerators of several major food retail chains across France”.
The probe will help “identify the victims and establish the link with the damage they reported in terms of foodstuff losses and the outbreak of fires”, the prosecutor’s office said.
Intermarché condemned the food waste and financial losses resulting from the attack, without providing figures, and warned that there could be issues with insurance policies that do not “cover this type” of in-store incident.
BFM TV said temperatures were “altered remotely, resulting in the destruction of stocks of fresh and frozen products”.
The incident comes against a backdrop of growing concern over the potential havoc that cyberattacks by malicious actors could cause across Europe and in all sectors.
President Emmanuel Macron, a strong supporter of Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion, last month ordered measures to protect France’s critical infrastructure from Russian “hybrid attacks”.