French supermarkets face millions in losses after cyberattack hits refrigerators nationwide

A cyberattack in France forced multiple grocery stores to discard large amounts of temperature-sensitive product after hackers turned the heat up on food refrigerators in hundreds of stores across at least five chain brands.

The hack, according to Reuters and European officials, affected chains such as Carrefour, Monoprix, Les Mousquetaires, E.

Leclerc and Coopérative U.

The CEO of Coopérative U, a retail group structured as a cooperative of independently owned businesses, confirmed the cyberattack in a Monday post on X.

"I confirm that a cyberattack has been affecting, since last night, the cold production facilities of several stores in our network Coopérative U," he wrote in the post.

FOREIGN HACKERS BREACH TWO MORE US WATER UTILITIES, THREATEN SAFETY OF COLORADO RESIDENTS "Our teams are fully mobilized, in coordination with refrigeration specialists, to restore the situation as quickly as possible.

An investigation will be necessary to shed full light on this attack.

Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people is of extreme gravity and is unprecedented.

It is unacceptable," he concluded.

IF HACKERS CRIPPLE AMERICA'S WATER, THE CONSEQUENCES COULD BE CATASTROPHIC The Paris prosecutor's office also confirmed the cyberattack, characterizing it as a "large-scale" attack that affected "connected refrigerators in several major food retailers across France." Carrefour said roughly 80 of its stores were affected while Monoprix, which operates 490 stores in France according to Reuters, said 5% of its stores were affected.

IRAN-LINKED HACKERS SUSPECTED IN UK POWER-PLANT SHUTDOWN AFTER ALLEGED MINNESOTA WATER ATTACK Les Mousquetaires said fridges at approximately 150 of its stores were heated up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) for six hours.

A company spokesperson also said all affected food had been discarded, according to Reuters.

While the incident's financial toll on the supermarket has yet to be officially tabulated, experts estimated the losses to be upwards of 10 million euros, equivalent to roughly $11.2 million.

INVESTIGATORS BELIEVE IRANIAN HACKERS ARE LIKELY BEHIND CYBERATTACK ON MINNESOTA WATER SYSTEMS: REPORT The attack likely resulted in the loss of "tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day," Intermarche CEO Thierry Cotillard said during a televised interview in France, according to Reuters.