Hackers heat French supermarket fridges to 50°C in major cyberattack

Hackers manipulated connected refrigeration systems at French supermarkets, pushing some defrost cycles to 50°C. The incident caused food losses, fire reports and a wider warning unsupported industrial control equipment.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and here is why it’s important: Hackers manipulated connected refrigeration systems at hundreds of French supermarkets overnight on October 11 and 12, sending some defrost cycles as high as 50°C and forcing retailers to discard fresh and frozen food. The Paris prosecutor’s office said reported damage included food losses and fires, while France’s cybersecurity agency ANSSI joined the investigation.

Reuters reported that Intermarché alone had 150 stores targeted, with Carrefour, Monoprix, Coopérative U and other chains also affected. The total financial loss was not final, but industry estimates ran into tens of millions of euros as stores cleared stock after the cold chain was broken.

How refrigeration controls became the target

The incident centred on remotely managed refrigeration equipment associated with Danish supplier Danfoss . Attackers reportedly forced systems into extended defrost cycles, turning equipment designed to protect food into a source of heat. Danfoss told media that many affected units were obsolete products that no longer received software or security updates.

The company had previously published advisories for its AK-SM 8xxA controllers. One 2025 notice covered a high-severity command-injection flaw and told users to install software version 4.3.1. Another warned of an authentication weakness in versions before 4.2. Claroty researchers also demonstrated how controller vulnerabilities could affect real refrigeration operations. Investigators have not publicly established every technical step used in the French attack.

Why the attack matters

This was not simply a website outage or defacement or even a DDoS attack. Connected controllers can change physical conditions inside stores, making cyber failures a food-safety and fire risk. Retailers had to destroy products once safe temperatures could no longer be guaranteed, even where packaging appeared intact.

The attacker and motive remained unknown when this report was prepared. No public evidence established a state link, and reports of fires still require case-by-case investigation. Indian retailers using similar industrial systems should also review vendor advisories rather than assuming the incident is limited to France.

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Siddharth Shankar is a journalist with over a decade of experience covering business, infrastructure, technology, science, gaming, automobiles and digital media. Currently leading the newsroom, with a focus on Business, Technology, AI, Cybersecurity, Science, Gaming and Automobile sections. For news leads, he can be reached on X at @Siddh4rth.