Overview
- Hackers remotely accessed store refrigeration controllers and set automatic defrost to run continuously, causing temperatures to rise high enough to spoil perishable stock and in some cases ignite small fires.
- Retailers report hundreds of stores affected across multiple chains, including large numbers at Intermarché and Coopérative U and outlets of Carrefour, E. Leclerc and Monoprix.
- Reporting names Danfoss refrigeration equipment as the targeted technology, though investigators have not publicly attributed the attack to any actor.
- Companies say losses run into millions of euros, with one store cited as losing about €50,000 in frozen goods, and some insurers are reportedly refusing to cover the damage.
- The incident exposes vulnerabilities in networked commercial refrigeration and raises questions about equipment security, retailer cyber defenses and regulatory and insurance gaps for physical losses caused by cyberattacks.