Cyberattack destroys food at hundreds of French grocery stores

A cyberattack, affecting at least 400 French supermarkets overnight, raised refrigerator temperatures to more than 122°F (50°C) in some cases, forcing millions of dollars’ worth of food to be discarded Monday.

“The weaponization of food has become a reality,” the EU commissioner for agriculture said. The scale of the hack demonstrated “a certain level of sophistication,” a cybersecurity consultant told AFP.

The Élysée has recently called to harden France’s digital infrastructure amid rising security breaches. Monday’s attack may have been continental — a Dutch supermarket chain operating in several countries reported network outages at distribution centers Monday, with one source telling Dutch broadcaster RTL, “You’re going to see huge gaps on the shelves in the coming days.”