Hackers heat French supermarket fridges, sparking fires and food losses
- A major coordinated cyberattack targeted commercial refrigeration systems across hundreds of French supermarkets overnight, remotely manipulating industrial cooling controls to trigger continuous forced defrost cycles and spike internal temperatures up to 50°C .
- The attack primarily impacted systems manufactured by Danish climate solutions company Danfoss, exploiting software vulnerabilities—previously flagged by security researchers in August—to override safety limits and run defrost heaters indefinitely.
- More than 300 Intermarché and Netto locations, nearly 100 Coopérative U stores, and several E.Leclerc outlets were hit, resulting in massive food spoilage, millions of euros in lost inventory, and localized electrical fire outbreaks triggered by overheating defrost elements.
- The Paris Prosecutor's Office opened a formal nationwide criminal investigation into the attack, while supermarket groups voiced concerns that standard commercial insurance policies may fail to cover damages caused by remote cyber sabotage.
- The breach occurred alongside a separate European retail cyber incident that disrupted website orders, delivery systems, and electronic shelf labels across Dutch and Belgian chains, including Albert Heijn and Delhaize.
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854 Articles
Hackers gain access to the cooling chest control of hundreds of supermarkets in southern Europe and defrost them. The authorities are now looking for the perpetrators.
Hackers have manipulated cooling systems in hundreds of French supermarkets and increased temperatures to up to 50 degrees. Food consumes in masses, some fires broke out.
Unknown people have manipulated the refrigerators of hundreds of French supermarkets. Dutch trading company Ahold Delhaize also reports a cyber incident. The websites of the stores in the Netherlands and the USA are still offline. The authorities there see no connection.
The attack was bigger than expected.
France cyberattack hits 500 supermarkets, spoils tons of food
Hackers seized control of refrigeration systems at at least 500 supermarkets across France, manipulating fridge temperatures and forcing retailers to discard spoiled meat and frozen products, as investigators searched for those responsible for the cyberattack on October 13. The incident, which affected major supermarket chains including Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarche and Cooperative U, has exposed vulnerabilities in internet-connected refriger…
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