Hackers raised temperatures in refrigerators and freezers at hundreds of French supermarkets overnight on October 12, 2026, reaching up to 50 degrees Celsius. This caused fires and food spoilage, affecting major retailers like Carrefour and Monoprix, with estimates suggesting losses could amount to tens of millions of euros. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has ordered an investigation by France’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI), which identified a vulnerability in software supplied by Danish company Danfoss.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-13,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Hackers in France launched an unprecedented cyberattack on October 12, 2026, targeting refrigeration systems in hundreds of supermarkets, including chains like Intermarché and Coopérative U. By reprogramming cooling regulators to force a continuous defrost cycle, temperatures inside the fridges soared up to 50°C (122°F) overnight, causing vast amounts of fresh produce, meat, dairy, and frozen goods to spoil.
The attack led to significant financial losses, with individual stores reporting damage in the hundreds of thousands of euros. For instance, two supermarkets in Alsace reported combined losses of €270,000 (£228,000). Authorities confirmed it was a large-scale cyber-attack affecting major food retailers across France and opened an investigation.
The attack highlighted vulnerabilities in third-party systems that manage refrigeration units via internet-accessible control panels, allowing hackers to remotely alter temperatures en masse. French officials are collaborating with European counterparts to assess potential risks for other companies and countries, as similar incidents have been reported in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, and Belgium.
Written for “Cyber Attack On French Supermarkets R…” on 2026-10-13,
grounded in this article and the 6 other(s) covering the same event.
Hackers raised the temperature of refrigerators and freezers at hundreds of French supermarkets to as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight, causing fires and spoiling food.
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Hackers → raise → food
The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Monday (October 12, 2026) that a “large-scale” attack was “affecting connected refrigerators in several major food retailers across France”, leading to food losses and fires.
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attack → say → losses
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has instructed France’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to investigate, a person in his office said.
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person → instruct → office
France was coordinating with European counterparts because other countries could also be affected, the person said, adding that authorities were assessing whether other French companies were at risk.
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companies → coordinate → risk
Felix Aime, a senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at Sekoia Threat Detection and Research, said Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium had also been affected.
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Spain → say → Detection
Carrefour said 80 of its supermarkets were hit, while Monoprix, which operates about 490 stores in France, said 5% of its stores were affected.
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% → say → stores
Les Mousquetaires, owner of retailer Intermarche, said fridges at around 150 of its stores were heated up to 50 C for six hours overnight.
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fridges → say → hours
A spokesperson said all affected food had been discarded to eliminate health risks.
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food → say → risks
Paris resident Geert de Clercq witnessed staff at an Intermarche in central Paris throwing cartfuls of defrosted frozen foods into a giant trash container, with molten ice cream sloshing out of broken tubs on the street.
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cream → witness → street
Cooperative U CEO Dominique Schelcher said his supermarket group had also been targeted.
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group → say → ?
“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,” he wrote on X.
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he → target → gravity
Food retailers E.Leclerc and Auchan did not respond to requests for comment.
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E.Leclerc → respond → comment
There was no immediate estimate of industry-wide losses, but Intermarche CEO Thierry Cotillard told BFM TV
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Cotillard → be → TV
the “unprecedented” attack would represent losses amounting to “tens of millions of euros nationwide in a single day.
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attack → represent → day
Christel Delberghe, director general at European retail association Eurocommerce, said, “This incident underlines the importance of resilience across the entire supply chain.”
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incident → say → chain
Cold aisles controllled over internet
Supermarket cold aisles are typically run by control panels that manage an entire store’s fridges and freezers and can be accessed over the internet, which lets maintenance companies adjust them from anywhere.
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companies → controllle → them
The source close to Lecornu said ANSSI had identified a vulnerability in software supplied by Danish company Danfoss.
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ANSSI → say → Danfoss
Danfoss said it was “aware of incidents in France affecting a limited number of refrigeration management systems”.
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it → say → systems
The affected units “were running outdated firmware”, Danfoss said, adding that it had “long advised customers to keep supported systems updated with the latest firmware and to migrate legacy systems to current-generation solutions”.
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systems → affect → solutions
On August 9, cybersecurity firm Claroty’s Team82 published research detailing vulnerabilities in the Danfoss AK-SM 800A controller.
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Team82 → publish → controller
According to the report, software updates issued by Danfoss addressed issues that could have allowed attackers to bypass authentication controls and execute code on compromised devices.
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attackers → accord → devices
The attacks resemble disruptions reported at about a dozen US military commissaries in late August that led to food losses after fridges were affected.
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fridges → resemble → losses
In a statement, French retail association Fédération du Commerce et de la Distribution called for “full transparency” from Danfoss about the incident.
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association → call → incident
It said supermarkets aimed to protect consumers and return to normal operations as soon as possible.
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supermarkets → say → operations
The FCD said some impacted stores were already back up and running.
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stores → say → ?
Dutch security issue
Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize, which operates the Netherlands’ largest supermarket chain Albert Heijn and has major operations in the US, said it was dealing with a “security issue” on its network and had taken several systems offline as a precaution.
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it → operate → precaution
A message on the retailer’s smartphone app said it was unable to deliver groceries because of a “cybersecurity incident”.
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it → say → incident
Online orders account for about 10% of Albert Heijn sales.
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orders → account → sales
Physical stores remained open, while Dutch news agency ANP reported that rival retailers had seen a surge in delivery orders.
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retailers → remain → orders
Ahold Delhaize said there was no reason to see a link between the incidents in France and its supermarkets.
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Delhaize → say → France
Websites for its Stop & Shop, Giant, Hannaford and Food Lion chains displayed notices saying “site temporarily down”.
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site → display → notices
It was unclear whether other operations had been affected.
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operations → affect → ?
The Aporia
