French Supermarket Refrigeration Cyberattacks Spoil Food at More Than 700 Stores

The attacks began during the night of October 11 into October 12, when hackers remotely took control of thermostats serving supermarket refrigerators and freezers across France, according to Franceinfo. Instead of keeping food cold, the systems began heating up.

Temperatures reportedly reached as high as 50°C, The Register reported. Stores had to discard fresh and frozen stock, turning a cyberattack into an immediate food waste problem. The Local reported losses worth millions of euros.

By October 13, NYT World News reported that a Danish software system used in at least 380 supermarkets had been targeted. The scale was still emerging: Al Jazeera put the number of affected shops above 500 that day.

The attacks were not confined to the initially identified equipment. On October 13, Le Monde reported that shops using Dixell equipment had been targeted during the night of October 12 into October 13, following attacks involving Danfoss systems. The methods appeared similar, the report said.

On October 14, CNN Brasil reported that around 700 food retail establishments had been affected. These counts differ across the coverage, with later reports describing a larger toll than the first accounts. That same day, Euronews reported experts' warnings that thousands of similarly exposed devices remained online.

On October 15, NPR - Middle East reported that France had opened an investigation. SecurityWeek also reported that the attacks extended to Copeland and Dixell controllers, with no group claiming responsibility.

The question of preventability became sharper on October 15. The Register reported that researchers had warned about exploitable refrigeration controller vulnerabilities months earlier, and in one case more than a year before the attacks.

The latest store count in the supplied coverage exceeds 700, according to Le Monde on October 17. The attackers remain unidentified, The Register reported that day. The coverage does not establish a final total for the financial losses or the food destroyed.

The concern now extends beyond supermarket stock. Le Monde described the incident as a warning about internet-connected industrial equipment and highlighted France's delay in transposing European law into national legislation. The immediate environmental consequence is already clear: large quantities of food were destroyed, as Le Monde reported on October 18.

The investigation's central unanswered questions are who carried out the attacks and how they gained access across different refrigeration systems. France's investigation was reported by NPR - Middle East, while SecurityWeek said no group had claimed responsibility.

Another unresolved issue is whether exposed equipment has been secured. Euronews reported that thousands of similarly exposed devices remained online on October 14. The subsequent reporting on earlier vulnerability warnings by The Register makes the response to those warnings a key question.