French authorities are still hunting the hackers behind a cyberattack on the country’s supermarkets that’s sparked concerns about the security of connected systems.
The criminals breached security systems of at least 350 French supermarkets, raising temperatures in freezers and fridges to heat up to 50 degrees, defrosting food and causing fires.
Carrefour was among the French supermarket chains impacted by the cyberattack. Bob Edme
The damage bill from the hack on Monday came to millions of dollars.
Units in France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium were impacted, Reuters reported based on an analysis by private cybersecurity firm Sekoia Threat Detection and Research.
The French government says no hacking group has claimed responsibility or made a ransom demand.
The country’s cybersecurity agency said the breach affected fridges that relied on software by Danish firm Danfoss, as well as Copeland and Dixell software.
An Australian cybersecurity expert says the cyberattack shows hackers are moving beyond stealing data.
The hackers hit hundreds of supermarkets across France. Twitter
Swinburne University communication systems expert Associate Professor Ali Yavari said it highlighted how vulnerable connected systems were.
“Digitalisation and remote connectivity bring significant benefits, but they also introduce new vulnerabilities by creating potential pathways for cybercriminals to access and manipulate physical equipment,” Yavari said.
“Traditionally, organisations have prioritised performance, efficiency and reliability when deploying connected systems.
“Security has often been viewed separately, despite growing evidence that operational technology environments can become attractive targets for attackers.”
The hackers manually overrode the temperatures at fridges in supermarket groups including Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarche and Cooperative U.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has ordered the country’s cybersecurity service to investigate the hack on supermarkets. (Stephane Mahe/Pool via AP) AP
There was no immediate estimate of the damage bill, but Intermarche chief executive Thierry Cotillard told BFM TV the cyberattack would represent losses amounting to “tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day.”
Workers at some Paris supermarkets threw boxes full of perished meat and frozen goods into giant rubbish containers on Tuesday.
Control panels that monitor a supermarket’s cold aisle can be accessed remotely over the internet by technicians for maintenance purposes.
Danfoss said it was “aware of incidents in France affecting a limited number of refrigeration management systems”.
The affected units “were running outdated firmware,” Danfoss said, adding that it had “long advised customers to keep supported systems updated with the latest firmware and to migrate legacy systems to current-generation solutions.”
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