A coordinated cyberattack struck hundreds of supermarkets across France early Monday, forcing connected refrigeration equipment into defrost mode and causing food to spoil in some stores, according to reports from AFP. The affected locations included stores operated by three major grocery chains: E. Leclerc, Intermarche and Cooperative U. Paris authorities told the news agency that additional grocery chains were also hit.
The hackers raised refrigerator and freezer temperatures to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) and held them there for several hours, the chains reported. In some cases, the temperature spike caused fires to break out in addition to ruining food. The attack targeted software on two Danfoss system controllers, the AK-SM800 and AK-SC355, the company told the industry publication Cooling Post. Danfoss said those systems were running outdated firmware.
Danfoss told Cooling Post it is working with affected customers to put mitigation measures in place, including firmware updates where available, stronger network protections and the removal of direct internet exposure where applicable. On a web page for its AK-SM800 controllers, Danfoss says it takes security seriously and that new measures are being implemented to improve security. A representative for Danfoss did not immediately return a request for comment.
It remains unclear who is responsible for the attacks or the exact exploit chain used. Dominique Schelcher, CEO of Cooperative U, said in a post on X that an investigation is underway. He described the targeting of equipment essential to preserving fresh products and to the food supply of the French people as extremely grave and unprecedented. The systems involved were not consumer smart refrigerators with app controls and touch screens, but industrial controllers connected to the internet so operators could remotely manage defrost cycles, temperatures and alarms across many stores.
Such operational technology devices are used for reasons including logging temperatures to meet food safety standards, deploying firmware updates and receiving alerts when equipment malfunctions. Some also monitor inventory or update prices for digital shelf displays. Like consumer appliances that can be affected by hacks or software glitches, these industrial devices depend on imperfect software and internet connections that expose them to outside access. The attack highlights vulnerabilities in global food supplies that can be exploited quickly, and the same types of weaknesses can affect utilities including power grids, water suppliers and nuclear power plants.
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