A cyber attack on hundreds of French supermarkets caused fridges and freezers to rapidly heat up, spoiling food and leading to losses estimated in the millions of euros. Supermarket chains E. Leclerc, Intermarché and Coopérative U confirmed their stores were hit overnight from Sunday into Monday.
Attack targeted refrigeration software
Intermarché said the incident caused its fridges to reach 50C for six hours. Hackers gained control of software provided by Danish engineering firm Danfoss that regulates the temperatures of refrigeration units.
BFM TV reported that the hackers “managed to remotely trigger the forced defrosting of the refrigeration systems in numerous stores”, resulting in the “destruction of stocks of fresh and frozen products”.
Hundreds of stores affected
At least 300 stores belonging to Intermarché or its Netto brand were targeted, along with more than 100 Coopérative U outlets and several E. Leclerc stores, the retailers told the AFP news agency. Other major food retailers including Carrefour and Monoprix were also reportedly hit, although the companies have yet to confirm this.
Intermarché told AFP that its affected branches would have to “throw away” all their fresh and frozen food. The retailer condemned the resulting food waste and financial losses but did not disclose the scale of the damage.
Retailers and officials respond
Dominique Schelcher, chief executive of Coopérative U, described the attack as “extremely serious” and “unprecedented” in a post on X. He said the company's teams were “fully mobilised” to restore normal operations as quickly as possible. “An investigation will be necessary to shed full light on this attack,” he added.
EU commissioner for agriculture and food Christophe Hansen said on X that “food security requires more attention at all levels”. He condemned the attack, saying the “exploitation of food” was now a “reality”.
Paris prosecutors confirmed that an investigation has been opened into the incident. A person close to French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told AFP that France’s cyber security agency has identified “a vulnerability in software supplied by a Danish company and has contacted the vendor”.
“It is liaising with its European counterparts, as other countries may be affected,” the source said. The agency is also seeking “to identify other French companies involved in order to alert them” and “prevent the spread”.
