Hackers targeting French supermarkets tampered with connected refrigeration systems, raising freezer temperatures to 50 degrees Celsius and causing food spoilage and fires, in an attack that affected major food retailers across France.
According to Reuters, the incident affected stores operated by several major retail groups, including Intermarche, Netto, Carrefour, Monoprix and E.Leclerc. The attack targeted software supplied by Danish engineering company Danfoss, which provides technology used to manage refrigeration systems.
Intermarche and Netto were among the hardest-hit retailers. A spokesperson for Les Mousquetaires, the group that owns Intermarche, said refrigeration systems at around 150 of its stores had been heated to 50C for six hours overnight. The incident forced the affected stores to discard food to prevent potential health risks to customers.
The scale of the disruption prompted retailers to take immediate steps to protect other locations. According to Reuters, around 180 Intermarche and Netto stores were affected, while another 100 shops were urgently disconnected from the internet as a precaution against further interference.
The Paris prosecutor’s office described the incident as a “large-scale” cyberattack affecting connected refrigerators at several major food retailers across France. The disruption resulted in food losses and fires, highlighting the potential physical consequences of attacks on systems that control essential equipment in commercial buildings.
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu instructed the country’s National Cybersecurity Agency, known as ANSSI, to investigate the incident, according to a government spokesperson.
Felix Aime, a senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at Sekoia Threat Detection and Research, said the impact extended beyond France, with Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium also affected. The reported spread across several European countries raised concerns about the security of connected refrigeration technology used by large retail chains.
The incident demonstrates how interference with digital systems can disrupt ordinary supermarket operations, damage perishable goods and create safety risks. Refrigeration systems are essential for keeping food at safe temperatures, and unauthorised changes to their settings can quickly lead to substantial losses.
For the affected retailers, the immediate priority was to remove compromised food from sale and prevent further disruption. The investigation by French cybersecurity authorities is expected to examine the attack and how the connected refrigeration systems were accessed and manipulated.
