French agency says Copeland, Dixell systems also hacked

France's national cybersecurity agency said on Tuesday that the cyberattack on supermarket refrigerators and freezers also hit refrigeration systems made by Copeland and its Dixell brand. Until then, investigators had pointed only to equipment from Danish manufacturer Danfoss. A Copeland spokesperson declined to confirm the information. The spokesperson said the company's top priority is to protect customers' operations.reuters

The disclosure suggests the attack reached beyond a single supplier's equipment. Hackers pushed temperatures in hundreds of supermarket fridges as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), which spoiled food and caused fires.reuters

Beyond Danfoss

The first official alert focused on Danfoss. CERT-FR, the emergency response team within the agency known as ANSSI, issued an alert on Oct. 12 about "numerous compromises" of two Danfoss controller series, the AK-SM and AK-SC. It told operators to disconnect the devices or tightly filter who can reach them. Danfoss said the affected units "were running outdated firmware," and that many had reached end of life and no longer received security updates.centraloregondaily+2

In August, the cybersecurity firm Claroty described flaws in Danfoss's AK-SM 800A controller that could let intruders bypass authentication. Those flaws have since been patched. Investigators have not said publicly how the attackers got in, and no group has claimed responsibility. Three cyber experts told Reuters the attack appeared easy to carry out. Using the scanning service Shodan, Reuters found at least 4,500 Danfoss interfaces still visible on the internet on Tuesday.reuters+1

Retailers count losses

The attack began on the night of Oct. 11 and forced cooling systems into continuous defrost cycles. Le Monde reported that the hackers also stretched some defrost cycles from one hour to eight hours to delay alarms.aljazeera+1

Retailers named the following affected stores:

• Intermarché and Netto: at least 300 stores, according to AFP. Parent company Les Mousquetaires told TIME the figure was about 180ksl+1
• Coopérative U: 80 of its 2,000 stores, according to Chief Executive Dominique Schelcherreuters
• Carrefour: 80 supermarketscentraloregondaily
• Monoprix: about 30 storesksl
• E.Leclerc: several storescentraloregondaily

Intermarché CEO Thierry Cotillard told BFM TV the losses would reach "tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day".reuters+1

Investigations widen

The Paris prosecutor's office has opened a cybercrime inquiry. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu ordered ANSSI to investigate and coordinate with European counterparts. Félix Aimé, an analyst at Sekoia, told Reuters that Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium had also been affected. No other country has confirmed a related breach.aljazeera+3

Schelcher called the attack "of extreme gravity" and "unprecedented." He said it targeted equipment essential to the food supply of the French people.time