# Cyberattacks Heat French Supermarket Refrigerators to 50°C Causing Food Spoilage Hackers manipulate commercial cooling systems across hundreds of French stores, disrupting supply chains. - **Source:** [www.theregister.com - Articles (theregister.co.uk)](https://brifing.si/source/e6d4ec13-4d0e-407a-b96d-39609d76c3b1) - **Published:** 2026-10-13 - **Topic:** [Software & Engineering](https://brifing.si/c/engineering) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/e74a8faa-8491-4860-9b59-02d8eb5ee0e5 ## Widespread Cooling Sabotage Cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems across France pushed internal temperatures up to 50°C, spoiling massive quantities of perishable food. Major retail brands including Carrefour, Intermarché, Monoprix, and Coopérative U suffered severe stock losses. The targeted hardware managed critical pre-shelf storage units, causing empty produce aisles nationwide. ## Scale of French Retail Disruption The disruption impacted hundreds of locations across the country. Groupement Les Mousquetaires reported approximately 150 affected Intermarché stores, while Carrefour confirmed 80 compromised locations. Monoprix noted five percent of its 490 stores were hit, and Coopérative U acknowledged incidents across 80 of its 2,000 retail supermarkets. ## Vulnerable Controller Infrastructure Many affected retailers relied on industrial refrigeration controllers manufactured by Danish firm Danfoss. Security firm Claroty had previously documented critical vulnerabilities within the AK-SM 800A platform. These units featured a bypassable authentication mechanism generating access codes derived from the device date, allowing attackers administrative access without credentials. ## Remote Maintenance Exposure Risks Retail operators connect industrial controllers directly to the public internet to enable centralized engineering teams to troubleshoot issues remotely and reduce maintenance overhead. Claroty noted that this convenience eliminates network isolation. Shodan scans revealed over 4,500 internet-facing Danfoss interfaces worldwide, with more than half located in France. ## Emergency Response and Advisories French cybersecurity agency CERT-FR issued an urgent advisory warning of compromises across Danfoss AK-SM and AK-SC series controllers. The agency recommended disconnecting internet access, performing factory resets, rotating administrative credentials, and applying security patches. Danfoss maintained that the impacted supermarket systems had been running outdated, unpatched firmware. ## Anomalies in Attack Footprint While Danfoss hardware featured prominently in the technical alerts, Coopérative U leadership stated the company does not use Danfoss controllers despite suffering 80 compromised stores. This discrepancy suggests either multiple distinct attack vectors were utilized or additional third-party industrial cooling vendors share similar unauthenticated remote vulnerabilities. ## Parallel Retail Cyber Incidents Dutch retail conglomerate Ahold Delhaize simultaneously reported a separate cybersecurity incident impacting distribution systems across European brands. Although authorities have not confirmed a direct link to the French cooling sabotage, the incident forced retail websites offline, disrupted digital shelf labeling, and depleted fresh grocery inventories across regional branches. ## Physical Risks in Operational Technology The incident demonstrates the severe physical risks associated with vulnerable operational technology managing core supply chains. Altering temperature thresholds not only ruined food inventories but also triggered isolated fires in French facilities. Securing physical industrial infrastructure requires enforcing strict network segmentation, closing public internet access, and mandating patch compliance. ## Sources covering this story - https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/10/13/cyberattacks-crank-french-supermarket-refrigeration-systems-up-to-50c/5302784 — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._