French supermarket chain Intermarche hit by cyberattack, 150 stores targeted

A major cyberattack on French supermarket chain Intermarche has affected around 150 of its stores, causing fridges to reach temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius (122°F) for six hours. This resulted in food losses and fires in several hundred stores across the country. The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed the large-scale attack, which targeted connected refrigerators in several major food retailers.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu instructed the National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to investigate the incident, while France is coordinating with European counterparts and investigating potential risks for other French firms.

Intermarche owner Les Mousquetaires stated that the company had thrown away all the affected food to prevent sanitary risks. Cooperative U CEO Dominique Schelcher also confirmed that his supermarket was hit by the attack. Other major supermarket chains like Carrefour, Monoprix, E.Leclerc and Auchan did not respond to requests for comment.

Dutch supermarket company Ahold Delhaize, which owns Albert Heijn, reported a security issue in its network, taking several systems offline to protect them. Online apps and delivery systems of its stores remained unavailable, while electronic price tags often displayed incorrect information. The ANSSI identified a vulnerability in software supplied by Danish company Danfoss, which advised customers to update their firmware and migrate to current-generation solutions.