Hundreds of French supermarkets saw their refrigeration systems defrosted, spoiling tons of frozen food. The unprecedented attack has raised serious questions about food security across Europe.
Hundreds of French supermarkets were forced to throw away perishable goods on Monday after hackers commandeered refrigeration systems across the country, spoiling stock at major chains in a sophisticated overnight cyberattack.
Hackers destroyed the food by taking control of refrigeration systems at Cooperative U, Leclerc, Les Mousquetaires, and Intermarche stores across the country and then defrosting thousands of freezer and refrigeration units.
During the overnight attack, in some cases, fully-stocked fridges were heated up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) for more than six hours. Over 400 stores were hit according to retailers.
Some business major over at Fridgey Fridges Ltd. thought, ‘Ooh la la, if we add €20 worth of electronics to these things, we can sell them for an extra €500 and when they break they’ll generate an extra €100/yr in service calls and parts.’ Then some business major at the grocery co. said, ‘wow, we’re going to get fridges that can connect to the internet. Now we won’t have to have Guy go check the temperatures. (which we already don’t do) I can convince my idiot boss this saves the company €100B and get a bigger bonus this quarter.’ Then the CEO says ‘look investors, we’ve put AI in our fridges to manage the temperature,’ and the share price flew up and gave him a giant bonus.
Never underestimate the ability of business majors to think the solution to a problem, which mightn’t really exist in the first place, is to pay someone else to automate it without regard for how badly it will break after they’ve moved on.