France's Supermarket Fridges Were Vulnerable Online for Months

On October 11-12, 2026, hundreds of French supermarkets experienced a chilling incident as cyber attackers compromised the refrigeration systems, causing fridges and freezers to heat up and defrost. The attack, traced back to Danfoss, a Danish industrial company, resulted in food waste and potential losses of several million euros. The Paris prosecutor's office is investigating the matter, with no suspects identified yet.

The attack affected stores across major chains such as Carrefour, Intermarché, Netto, Monoprice, and Coopérative U, with Coopérative U reporting that 80 of its 2,000 stores were impacted. Danfoss acknowledged that most of the affected equipment was legacy, specifically the AK-SM 800 and AK-SC 355 models. France had the highest number of affected dashboards, accounting for 53% of the 2,528 total addresses scanned, compared to 72 other countries combined.

Danfoss attributed the vulnerability to legacy equipment, namely the AK-SM 800 and AK-SC 355 models, which were declared end-of-life in 2023. However, a significant number of the affected dashboards in France (85%) ran software with known security flaws. The majority of these French dashboards remained accessible online for several months before the attack, indicating a lack of timely updates.