Thousands of supermarket fridges still exposed after cyberattack

Supermarkets in France were restocking on Wednesday, days after being hit by a cyber attack that caused refrigerator temperatures to shoot up to as high as 50 degrees Celsius, forcing stores to discard fresh and frozen goods. But France's Cyber Security Authority warned that the attack may still be ongoing, urging stores to reconnect refrigerators to the Internet only through a secure VPN connection or protected network, install firmware updates and change passwords. The attack affected hundreds of shops from major retailers E. Leclerc, Intermarché and Co-operative U across France. Intermarché reported losses of tens of millions of euros in a single day. It comes as supermarkets in the Netherlands and Belgium were hit with a separate cyber attack that affected the online services and distribution centres of the major Dutch chain Albert Heijn. The incident halted home deliveries and disrupted supplies to its extensive network of stores. Authorities in the Netherlands and France were investigating the cyber incidents, but said they saw no connection between the two events. The attacks have raised questions about food security, against a backdrop of growing concern over the potential havoc that can be caused in Europe in all sectors by malicious actors carrying out cyber attacks.