A cyber attack against European supermarket chains manages to raise the temperature of their freezers to 50 degrees

Several of the main supermarket chains in Europe have been affected in recent hours by a cyber attack that has affected their refrigeration systems and their online sales websites.

Specifically, in France the attack has managed to affect the refrigeration control systems from manufacturer Danfossused by supermarkets such as Intermarché, Leclerc and Coopérative U. The attackers have managed to access the settings of these units to modify the automatic defrosting cycles to increase temperatures to very high values ​​and cause refrigerated food to be lost.

This function is usually used to prevent ice formation and is limited to specific uses during a few hours of the day; However, the attackers have managed to make the freezers set to 50 degrees continuously, generating losses of 300,000 euros in products.

Supermarkets in the Netherlands and Belgium have also been affected by attacks.

At the same time, in the Netherlands and Belgium, the Albert Heijn chain and other supermarkets of the brand have also suffered a computer attack that has caused their websites to crash and has completely paralyzed shipments through online purchases.

Additionally, by affecting their computer systems, electronic price tags for products on shelves have gone offline and have begun to display erroneous prices, especially for deals and loyalty programs.

The company has shut down several of its systems to prevent attackers from infecting other critical systems.

At the moment, no attacker has taken responsibility, and there is no information to ensure that the incidents in France have been generated by the same hackers who attacked supermarkets in the Netherlands and Belgium.