Cyberattack heats supermarket fridges across France, causing fires and food losses

Hackers manipulated connected refrigeration systems at several hundred French supermarkets overnight, raising some units to 50°C and causing fires and food losses, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Les Mousquetaires said about 150 Intermarché stores were affected and discarded chilled goods to avoid health risks.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu instructed France’s cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, to investigate. Danfoss, the Danish supplier whose refrigeration-management software was identified in the inquiry, said the affected units used outdated firmware and that customers had long been advised to update or replace legacy systems. The precise intrusion method and attacker had not been established publicly.

Coopérative U also reported being hit. Separately, Ahold Delhaize took systems offline after a security incident disrupted apps, deliveries and electronic price labels at Albert Heijn and Delhaize stores in the Netherlands and Belgium. Reuters said it was not clear whether the French attack and the Dutch-Belgian disruption were connected.

The incident shows how a digital compromise can create physical hazards and food-safety losses. Investigators still need to establish the attack path, the full number of stores affected and whether the events across several countries share a common cause.