Cyber attack spoils food in hundreds of French supermarkets

Hackers manipulated refrigeration software to heat units to 50C, forcing retailers to discard stock and prompting a criminal investigation.

دنیا13 اکتوبر، 2026تحریر Web Desk

Intermarché - one of the two chains known to be affected - has more than 2,000 stories across France but only a proportion of those were hacked, reports suggest

Hundreds of French supermarkets were hit by a cyber attack that caused fridges and freezers to heat up, spoiling food. Hackers gained control of software regulating refrigeration temperatures, causing units to warm to 50C (120F) overnight.

More than 100 supermarkets from Coopérative U were targeted in the breach. The chief executive of Coopérative U described the incident as "extremely serious and unprecedented".

At least 300 stores from Intermarché and its Netto brand were affected, with fridges heating up to 50C for six hours overnight into Monday. Intermarché threw away all affected food to avoid health risks.

Two supermarkets in the Alsace region reported losses of €270,000 (£228,000). Stores from Carrefour, E.Leclerc and Monoprix were also attacked.

The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation into the incident, describing it as a "large-scale cyber-attack affecting the refrigerators of several major food retail chains across France". Dominique Schelcher stated the situation was "unacceptable" and that the company is "fully mobilised, in co-ordination with refrigeration specialists, to restore the situation as quickly as possible".

Dominique Schelcher stated the situation was "unacceptable" and that the company is "fully mobilised, in co-ordination with refrigeration specialists, to restore the situation as quickly as possible".
Dominique Schelcher

ٹیگزcybersecurity

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