Major French Supermarket Chains Say Cyber Attack Forced Refrigeration Systems to Shut Down
French major supermarket chains Intermarché, Coopérative U, and Leclerc reported that a cyber attack forced refrigeration systems to malfunction, resulting in food losses.
The attack occurred overnight from October 11 to 12, targeting the refrigeration control systems of Danish manufacturer Danfoss. Attackers remotely activated continuous defrosting and set temperatures to 50 degrees Celsius, causing refrigerators and freezers to heat for hours.
Intermarché reported that approximately 150 to 300 stores (including Netto) were affected, Coopérative U had fewer than 100 stores impacted, and some Leclerc stores were also affected, with the most severe cases requiring the disposal of all fresh and frozen products.
Individual store losses have reached tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of euros, with two stores in Alsace alone totaling about 270,000 euros. The nationwide scale of losses could reach millions of euros, and the group has prioritized restocking orders.
Dominique Schelcher, president of Coopérative U, stated that the attack on cold chain equipment is extremely serious and unprecedented, and unacceptable; Intermarché indicated it was an unintended victim of the Danfoss software attack.
The incident was driven by a remote intrusion targeting third-party refrigeration control systems, shifting resources from normal cold chain operations to food disposal and emergency restocking. Equipment suppliers and stores that need to strengthen OT security benefit, while retailers and consumers bear the losses and supply chain disruptions.
The disruption of the cold chain directly led to food being unsellable, highlighting the critical dependence of retail operations on industrial control systems.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
French large retail groups have long relied on third-party refrigeration control systems like Danfoss to manage freezers, with historical practices including centralized software for remote monitoring of temperature and defrost cycles. This attack converted protective functions (periodic defrosting) into a continuous high-temperature mode, exposing risks of insufficient separation between OT and IT systems.
From a capital perspective, retailers are diverting operational resources to emergency disposal and restocking, while equipment suppliers face demands for system repairs and security upgrades, motivated by the need to restore cold chain integrity and minimize food waste and reputational damage, while also pushing for security reviews of industrial control software.
Similar cases include other cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructure or supply chain control systems, with the current retail cold chain transitioning from traditional physical security to digital remote control.
Essentially, this represents a technological substitution and industrial chain reconstruction: the cold chain is shifting from local mechanical control to remote software-driven management, where a single supplier's system can simultaneously affect hundreds of stores, shifting pricing power and operational continuity from decentralized stores to centralized control systems. The attack reversed the defrost function to heating, directly destroying food inventory.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
- Refrigerators heated remotely, cold chain disrupted.
- Third-party systems, one attacked, hundreds affected.
- Defrosting turned to heating, food directly wasted.