French supermarkets hacked: Fridges heat to 50 C, spoiling food and causing fires

Hackers gained control of hundreds of supermarket fridges and freezers in France over the weekend and remotely raised the temperatures to nearly 50 degrees Celsius, causing huge amounts of food to go bad. Parisian authorities said the full extent of the damage from the large-scale attack remains unclear. The incident also led to fires at some of the facilities.

According to Intermarché CEO Thierry Cotillard, the losses from the hacking likely run into tens of millions of euros. France’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) has opened an investigation, and according to Reuters, a source with Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s office has said that a vulnerability at Danish engineering firm Danfoss is where the attack originated.

Affected French stores

In a statement sent to the outlet, Danfoss wrote that the company is "aware of incidents in France affecting a limited number of refrigeration management systems." Stores targeted include Intermarché owner Les Mousquetaires (150 stores), Carrefour (80 stores), Monoprix (approximately 5% of its 490 stores in France, or ~25), and Cooperative U (number not specified).

“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, chief executive of Coopérative ‌U, told the Guardian.

Retail chains being targeted by hackers

The attack reportedly also affected organisations in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, and Belgium, according to Sekoia Threat Detection and Research senior cyber intelligence threat analyst Felix Aime. The retail sector has often fallen prey to hackers, with UK retailer Marks & Spencer losing $428 million after stores had to be shut down. Harrod’s was next to be hacked, with the downtime costing millions of dollars in losses.

Danfoss told local media that the latest hacking happened because of "outdated firmware." Mostly, security is not the priority with operational technology (OT) systems connected to the internet and ransomware gangs exploit this loophole to trigger downtime, which ends up costing millions.

According to Food Navigator, food and beverage industries are increasingly becoming a common target. Hackers are also able to force more organisations into halting operations, with the number of victims rising from 45 per cent in 2021 to 58 per cent in 2025, according to data from Infor.