Cyberattack affected about 700 French supermarkets, finance minister says

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told Parliament on Tuesday that a cyberattack affected about 700 of the country's 10,000 supermarkets. The Paris prosecutor's office said its cybercrime unit was investigating the large-scale attack, including damage from spoiled food and reports of fires. Lescure said there was no risk to France's food supplies, but acknowledged that the attack touched the heart of food security. [ 22 ]

Groupement Mousquetaires, which operates more than 4,000 stores across Europe, said 300 of its Intermarché and Netto stores were affected. Some refrigerated and frozen food display cases remained out of service Tuesday. Cooperative U chief executive Dominique Schelcher said 80 of its 2,000 stores were affected. Most prevented refrigeration disruptions, but some had to discard food, he said. [ 22 ]

Carrefour and Monoprix were also affected. CNN reported Monday that Carrefour said 80 supermarkets were hit, while Monoprix said 5 per cent of its roughly 490 French stores were affected. Les Mousquetaires said refrigerators at around 150 of its stores were heated to 50 degrees Celsius for six hours overnight, CNN reported. A spokesperson said affected food was discarded to eliminate health risks. [ 10 , 22 ]

Danfoss, which supplied refrigeration management software, said most affected systems were older products no longer receiving software or security updates. The company said it was working with customers to limit damage and had advised them to update supported systems and operate behind a firewall. [ 22 ]

The reporting on fires included different accounts. CNN quoted Paris prosecutors saying the attack caused food losses and fires. CNBC quoted a Les Mousquetaires spokesperson saying some stores experienced smoke from overheating equipment, but no fires had been reported. The attackers had not been identified, The New York Times reported. [ 10 , 11 , 14 ]