More than 500 shops across France had their fridges and freezers switched to dangerous temperatures overnight while the stores were closed.

Who was hit

  • Intermarché (including Netto): at least 300 stores
  • Coopérative U: more than 100
  • Carrefour: 80
  • Monoprix: about 5% of its roughly 490 stores
  • E-Leclerc

Retailers said millions of euros worth of food spoiled. In some stores the heat sparked fires or melted equipment.

How it worked

Attackers reached refrigeration controllers over the internet and raised temperatures, apparently using a forced defrost setting. France’s cybersecurity agency said the systems were made by Danish manufacturer Danfoss, including the AK-SM800 and AK-SC355 models. Danfoss said most affected units were legacy products running outdated firmware, and that it had previously advised updates.

The attacker has not been identified. iTnews later reported a new wave of similar attacks spreading across Europe.

Advice from authorities

Disconnect refrigeration controllers from the internet or restrict access to them, and apply firmware updates.