A cyberattack disrupted refrigeration across hundreds of French supermarkets, forcing the destruction of refrigerated and frozen goods after attackers interfered with the systems that manage cooling. The incident occurred overnight from 11 to 12 October 2026 and affected stores operated by Intermarché, Netto, Coopérative U, Carrefour, E[.]Leclerc, and Monoprix. The breach targeted Danfoss refrigeration-control equipment, with most affected models identified as legacy systems no longer receiving software updates.
Reported temperature rises reached around 50°C (122°F) in some cases, leading to damaged equipment, fires in some locations, and substantial food waste and financial losses. Defrost cycles were extended from one hour to eight hours, delaying alarms and reducing staff opportunities to intervene before spoilage.
Danfoss has indicated that AK-SM800 and AK-SC355 units were among the affected hardware and has long advised customers to migrate away from obsolete models and keep supported equipment updated. French authorities, including the Paris prosecutor’s office, opened an investigation to determine links between the attack, stock losses, and fires.
CERT-FR has issued guidance recommending disconnection or filtering of affected controllers, restricting network access to essential service providers, performing factory resets, applying patches, replacing passwords and authentication secrets, reviewing accounts, and reconfiguring equipment.
While no group has claimed responsibility and no connection to other incidents has been established, the disruption highlights how compromising connected equipment can convert a cyber event into physical damage and stock loss, beyond what backups alone can address.