A cyberattack has switched off refrigeration equipment in hundreds of French supermarkets, and some frozen food had to be thrown away. The target was the internet-connected controllers that run the fridges and freezers.
What happened?
According to ERR, citing Politico, Intermarché and Coopérative U said on 12 October that they had to discard some frozen products. EU Commissioner Christophe Hansen also mentioned Leclerc, France’s largest supermarket chain, which had not confirmed it was affected. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu asked the national cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, to investigate. According to ERR, the authorities are also checking whether the attack reached other European countries.
French media linked the attack to equipment from the Danish manufacturer Danfoss. ANSSI found a flaw in a Danish company’s software and contacted the company.
On 12 October, CERT-FR, France’s government computer emergency response team, issued an alert. It says it is aware of numerous compromises of remote control devices for refrigeration installations. The alert also points out that exposing a management interface to the internet goes against good practice. It gives no vulnerability ID and no count of affected devices.
As of 12 October, it is not publicly known who is behind the attack.
Why does this matter for a small business?
Connected refrigeration is not only for big chains. Shops, restaurants, food producers and warehouses use it too. The same goes for heating, ventilation, security cameras and door access systems.
These systems are often installed and maintained by a contractor rather than your own IT person. The contractor needs remote access to spot faults quickly. If that access works through a management page open to the whole internet, an attacker can find the same page.
The usual weaknesses are simple. The factory password was never changed, the device software has not been updated for years, and the device sits on the same network as the tills and office computers. That does not mean every fridge is at risk. It does mean you should know how your devices connect to the internet.
What happens if the fridges stop overnight?
A large chain can absorb that kind of loss. For a small shop, restaurant or food producer, one night without cooling can mean throwing away all of its stock. It is also worth checking whether your insurance covers that kind of loss.
So treat a refrigeration failure as seriously as a power cut. Your plan should say who gets the alarm, who comes on site and where the stock goes.
What should you do?
- Ask your contractor whether any device can be reached directly from the internet. Ask separately about refrigeration, heating, ventilation and cameras, and get the answer in writing. Often nobody in-house knows, because someone else installed the equipment years ago.
- Move remote access behind a secure connection. The contractor should reach your devices through a VPN, an encrypted tunnel, not through an open management page.
- Change factory passwords. Every device needs its own password. Ask who holds the passwords and how they are changed when someone leaves.
- Separate devices from the rest of your network. Fridges, cameras and building systems belong on their own network, so a compromised device cannot lead an attacker to your tills or accounts.
- Make sure alarms reach a person. If the temperature rises, someone must know straight away, including at night and at weekends. Test the alarm: does it reach the right phone?
If you suspect a device is already under someone else’s control, disconnect it from the internet, contact your contractor and report it to your national CERT (in Estonia, CERT-EE at cert@cert.ee). See also what to do in a cyber incident.
Sources
- CERT-FR: CERTFR-2026-ALE-012, Incident de sécurité ciblant les contrôleurs à distance des installations de réfrigération (12 October 2026)
- ERR: Küberrünnak lülitas välja Prantsuse supermarketite külmikud (in Estonian, citing Politico)
We used AI to help write this post. The facts come from the sources listed below and reflect what was known on the day the news broke. How we use AI.
