Fridges Hacked, Food Ruined, Fires Sparked: France’s Strangest Hack Yet
Hackers simply turned French grocery store freezers into ovens.
This week, attackers took over the software program that controls refrigeration at tons of of shops throughout France. They pushed temperatures as much as 50°C, which is desert-heatwave territory inside a frozen meals aisle.
The harm:
- Hundreds of shops hit. Carrefour stated 80 of its shops have been affected. Intermarché proprietor Les Mousquetaires reported round 150.
- Millions of euros in meals spoiled. Fresh and frozen inventory was ruined.
- Fires broke out. According to Reuters, the incident additionally triggered fires at a number of shops.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has instructed France’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to research, an individual in his workplace stated.
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France Isn’t Alone: Japan and South Korea Are Under Fire Too
The freezer assault is the strangest in a string of cyberattacks over the previous few weeks. Asia has been hit hardest.
Japan: “A state of emergency in our on-line world”
- More than 20 main corporations disclosed cyberattacks in latest weeks, the Financial Times reported.
- Masaaki Taira, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s cybersecurity technique headquarters, known as it a state of emergency in our on-line world.
- Reuters, citing TrendAI information, reported that Japan logged extra cyber incidents within the first 9 months of 2026 than in all of 2025.
South Korea: Banks breached, AI suspected
- Breaches at monetary establishments uncovered information belonging to tens of 1000’s of shoppers.
- President Lee Jae Myung warned that artificial intelligence (AI) models seem to have been used.
- CrowdStrike linked the breaches to a suspected attacker using an open-source AI penetration-testing instrument alongside massive language fashions.
Wall Street Is Split on How Much Upside Is Left
Growing AI-linked threats have drawn investors into cybersecurity shares this 12 months. The sample held in Seoul on Tuesday. KOSPI fell 5.46%. A chip selloff tied to AI increase worries drove the decline.
SK Hynix fell 10.09%, and Samsung Electronics misplaced 7.39%. AhnLab, a cybersecurity firm, moved the opposite approach, closing 10.51% increased, whereas Genians additionally completed up.
Tokyo noticed the same cut up, with the Nikkei 225 down 1.82% and Cyber Security Cloud up 12.97% to ¥4,180.
AhnLab and Genians had each surged on October 6, after the financial institution breaches raised expectations of upper safety spending, The Herald Business reported. Fitch senior analyst Karen Wu additionally expects a sector-wide rise in cybersecurity spending, alongside regulatory penalties and compensation prices.
In the US, issues over AI-driven threats lifted safety shares nicely earlier than these assaults. The First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF (CIBR) returned about 50% year-to-date.
Analysts differ on how a lot future demand these features already mirror. Morgan Stanley sees extra room, noting solely about 1.5% of enterprise AI funding goes to AI safety. It raised its Palo Alto Networks target to $410 from $394.
Bernstein is extra cautious, having downgraded Palo Alto Networks on September 17. It argued the rally had pushed costs near truthful worth or past.
The Korean case provides a real-world instance to warnings that AI lowers the bar for attackers. Upcoming quarterly outcomes ought to present whether or not rising assaults are turning into greater safety budgets.
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