Photo: Benoît Prieur / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Hundreds of French supermarket stores woke up on Monday to fridges and freezers that had been remotely driven up to about 50°C overnight, spoiling fresh and frozen food estimated to be worth millions of euros and, in some outlets, sparking small fires.
The Paris prosecutor’s office described a “large-scale cyber-attack affecting the refrigerators of several major food retail chains across France.” Chains reporting impact included Intermarché and its Netto brand, Coopérative U, Carrefour and Monoprix. Figures from individual retailers suggest roughly 400 stores were affected out of about 15,000 nationwide.
How the attack worked
Attackers gained control of software that lets retailers manage cold units remotely — systems supplied by Danish engineering firm Danfoss. Normally freezers run a short overnight defrost cycle; in this case the hackers ordered units to heat and stay hot for hours. Intermarché said fridges at around 150 of its stores reached 50°C for about six hours, and that all affected food was discarded to avoid health risks.
Danfoss said the affected cold units were older models whose security software could not be updated against a risk it had identified, and that it had “long advised” customers to keep supported systems current. French authorities linked the incident to a vulnerability in Danfoss controllers; cybersecurity researchers at Claroty’s Team82 had earlier published findings on authentication flaws in the AK-SM 800A line.
Retailers count the cost
Carrefour said fridges in 80 of its roughly 6,000 French stores were hit. Monoprix reported about 5% of its more than 400 stores affected. Coopérative U chief executive Dominique Schelcher called the attack “extremely serious and unprecedented,” saying staff were working with refrigeration specialists to restore service and urging an investigation.
Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people is of extreme gravity and is unprecedented.
Dominique Schelcher, Coopérative U CEO
Intermarché’s parent group, Les Mousquetaires, said some display units remained out of service into Monday afternoon. Group president Thierry Cotillard told French television the nationwide losses could run into “tens of millions of euros” in a single day. Two stores in Alsace alone reported combined losses of about €270,000, according to broadcaster BFMTV.
Investigation and wider concern
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu instructed France’s national cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, to investigate. A source in his office said Paris was coordinating with European partners because other countries could be exposed, and that authorities were checking whether additional French firms were at risk. Analysts cited by Reuters said related disruptions had also been reported in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium.
European Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen condemned the hack, saying food security “requires more attention at all levels” because “the weaponisation of food has become a reality.” Separately, Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize said it was dealing with a network security issue and had taken systems offline as a precaution, while denying any confirmed link to the French incidents. French prosecutors’ cyber-crime unit is leading the inquiry.
