World News for Students of English

19-10-2026 15:00

Major supermarket chains across France were hit by an unprecedented cyberattack that targeted commercial refrigeration systems.

Hackers remotely took control of thermostats in hundreds of stores, and raised temperatures in fridges and freezers to as high as 50°C.

The sudden heat caused thousands of tons of fresh and frozen food, including meat, dairy, and juice, to spoil completely. This resulted in millions of dollars in damages and even triggered fires at several locations. The attack exploited security vulnerabilities in outdated control software, which allowed store managers to control appliances remotely. Major retailers like Intermarché and Carrefour were heavily affected, and forced some locations to manually disconnect their refrigeration units to prevent further tampering.

French authorities and national cybersecurity agencies have launched an urgent criminal investigation into the incident, and raised serious concerns about the safety and security of essential infrastructure.

Difficult words: unprecedented (an illegal attempt to damage, or steal data from computer systems or networks), thermostat (a device that automatically controls temperature in an appliance or building), vulnerability (a weakness in a system or software), tamper (to change something in order to cause damage or gain an advantage).

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