Intermarche CEO Thierry Cotillard told BFM-TV that the “unprecedented” attack resulted in losses amounting to “tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day.”
Two supermarkets in Alsace, Intermarche and Super U, reported losses of 270,000 euros, according to BFM-TV. An Intermarche in La Haye, Normandy, posted on Facebook that temperatures reached 80°C (176°F), causing some equipment to melt. Supermarket owners described throwing out nearly a dumpster’s worth of frozen food.
TIME has reached out to Danfoss and major French retailers for comment.
Growing cyber threat to food and agriculture
France’s ANSSI told TIME that it is coordinating with European counterparts given that stores in other countries may also use the same software and be at risk. Reuters reported, citing a cyber threat intelligence analyst, that Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, and Belgium were affected. Internet scans found Danfoss refrigeration controllers exposed in South Africa, the U.S., the U.K., and other countries. France had the largest observed concentration, holding nearly 60% of the world’s exposed Danfoss controllers detected by scans, according to cyber intelligence firm U.K. Cyber Defence.
