The French Blood Establishment (EFS) said hackers broke into refrigeration systems at three of its sites on Monday, pushing temperatures and defrost thresholds to dangerously high levels. The intrusion exploited a vulnerability in Coolworld, the third-party refrigeration provider, rather than targeting EFS directly. No blood products were lost; staff caught the anomaly via monitoring systems and moved samples to other facilities before damage occurred.
futurism.com
· 2026-11-06
A small Bordeaux-region producer, Maison Lineti, is fermenting, distilling and maturing whisky using oenology techniques rather than traditional distilling methods, including concrete-egg vessels borrowed from winemaking. Founded in 2018 by chemical engineer and oenologist Magali Picard with Alex Cosculluela and Xavier Payan, the company hosted the World Whisky Forum in June 2025, where its approach drew attention from the industry. The resulting spirit is described as floral, fresh, mineral and textured, and reaches bottling faster than whisky made by conventional methods.
wired.com
· 2026-10-31
French lawmakers have voted in a digital tax that VideoLAN says would cost the non-profit organization more than 1 million euros per year. VideoLAN, the maker of the popular open-source VLC media player, has publicly criticized the measure, saying the politicians who passed it do not understand its impact on software projects like theirs.
twitter.com
· 2026-10-30
Lawmakers voted 11 to 10 to adopt amendment I-1358 to the finance bill, proposed by the Socialist group, creating a levy of 0.055 euros per gigabyte on data delivered to French users. Internet providers would measure quarterly traffic volumes per company, overseen by regulator Arcep and the tax administration, with charges capped at 15% of French revenue or 2% of global revenue. The tax targets content providers and CDNs rather than consumers directly, and sponsors say it could raise up to 10 billion euros.
lesnumeriques.com
· 2026-10-30
CNET surveyed 10 coffee professionals, including roasters, cafe owners, educators and a former Specialty Coffee Association president, asking them to rank seven brewing methods. Pour-over coffee came out on top by a clear average margin, ahead of espresso, drip, AeroPress, French press, moka pot and K-Cup.
cnet.com
· 2026-10-27
On June 23, France transferred the remains of historian Marc Bloch and his wife Simonne into the Panthéon in Paris, with President Emmanuel Macron presiding over the ceremony attended by schoolchildren and dignitaries. Bloch, a medievalist and co-founder of an influential historical journal, was executed by the Gestapo in 1944 for his role in the French Resistance, and he is now the first historian to be interred in the national monument alongside figures such as Victor Hugo and Marie Curie.
theideasletter.org
· 2026-10-23
Team Vitality confirmed its V.Hive headquarters in Paris was vandalized and looted over the weekend, with display windows smashed and trophies and computer equipment stolen. The club said the damage occurred amid wider unrest tied to October 17 protests over school funding, living costs, and government spending cuts, and that no staff, team members, or fans were injured. V.Hive will remain closed while the organization assesses the full extent of the damage.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-19
Overnight Monday, attackers broke into commercial refrigeration controllers at major French grocery chains, pushing fridge and freezer temperatures up to 50°C and spoiling stock, with some incidents reportedly sparking small fires. The intrusions reportedly extended normal defrost cycles to disguise the attack as routine maintenance, and over 400 stores across France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium were affected in a single night. Two supermarkets in Alsace alone reported combined losses of roughly 270,000 euros.
darkreading.com
· 2026-10-15
Hackers allegedly breached refrigeration control systems at French supermarkets, causing units to overheat, triggering fires and spoiling stored food. The incident points to a targeted intrusion into industrial control or IoT systems managing store refrigeration rather than a simple equipment malfunction.
it.slashdot.org
· 2026-10-12
Carrefour reported that hackers affected refrigeration units in 80 of its roughly 6,000 stores. Monoprix said about 5% of its more than 400 stores were hit, and affected food was pulled from shelves where its safe condition could not be confirmed.
bbc.com
· 2026-10-12
Attackers remotely triggered automatic defrosting functions in Danfoss refrigeration controllers overnight, raising fridge temperatures at an estimated 250 to 350 stores across chains including Intermarché, Coopérative U, Carrefour Market, Monoprix, Leclerc and Super U. Coopérative U president Dominique Schelcher confirmed the incident, saying teams were working with refrigeration specialists to resolve it, while the Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation into food losses and reported fires linked to the attack.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-10-12
A Pew Research Center survey of over 42,000 people across 36 countries, plus a separate U.S. sample, found a growing share of respondents believe social media has had a negative effect on democracy in their country. The surveys were conducted between January and June 2026 and also tracked which social media platforms people use in each nation.
pewresearch.org
· 2026-10-07
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