Several supermarkets were forced to discard fresh and frozen food, Intermarché said, and have yet to estimate the losses. The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation.
Hundreds of French supermarkets belonging to the Intermarché and Coopérative U chains have fallen victim to a cyberattack targeting their refrigeration systems, the two retail giants said on Monday.
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Around 150 to 200 Intermarché stores were hit, along with nearly 100 Coopérative U outlets, they added. The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed the cyberattack, which is also thought to have affected other major chains.
BFM TV reported that France's largest supermarket chain, E. Leclerc, had also been targeted, with the hackers managing to trigger the defrost cycle on its refrigeration systems. Contacted by AFP, E. Leclerc did not immediately confirm the report.
The affected stores will have to "throw away all their products", fresh and frozen, Intermarché told AFP.
The specialist French retail news website jebosseengrandedistribution.fr (source in French) said that other retail heavyweights, Carrefour Market and Monoprix, had also been hit, although the companies have yet to confirm this.
An "unprecedented" attack
The chief executive of Coopérative U, Dominique Schelcher, described the attack as "unprecedented" and confirmed that the cyberattack had been affecting refrigeration systems since Sunday evening.
"Targeting equipment that is essential for preserving fresh products and for the food supply of people in France is extremely serious and without precedent. It is unacceptable", he wrote on X.
He added that the company is "fully mobilised" to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. "A full investigation will be needed to shed complete light on this attack", he said.
Investigation opened
The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed to AFP that an investigation had been opened into "the large-scale cyberattack affecting the cold rooms of several major food retail chains across France".
The investigation aims "to identify the victims and establish a link with the damage they have reported, in terms of losses of foodstuffs and the triggering of fire alarms", the prosecutor's office said.
Intermarché condemned the food waste and financial losses resulting from the attack, without providing figures, and warned that there could be problems with insurance policies, which do not "cover this type" of incident in stores.
The incident comes against a backdrop of growing concern about the devastation that cyberattacks by malicious actors could cause across all sectors in Europe.
President Emmanuel Macron, a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion, last month ordered the implementation of measures to protect France's critical infrastructure against Russian "hybrid attacks".