Hackers Push French Supermarket Fridges to 50°C in ‘Unprecedented’ Cyberattack
Hackers forced refrigerators in French supermarkets to heat up to about 50°C in what officials called an unprecedented cyberattack, destroying food stocks and exposing how internet‑connected equipment in ordinary shops can be turned against its owners.
French investigators are examining a cyberattack that hijacked supermarket refrigeration systems and drove their temperatures to roughly 50 degrees Celsius, spoiling large amounts of food. Officials have described the incident as unprecedented.
According to the initial report, attackers gained control of the systems that regulate supermarket fridges and changed their settings so that units heated instead of cooled. Raising temperatures that high quickly makes meat, dairy, and other perishables unsafe, forcing stores to throw out inventory.
For the supermarkets hit, that means immediate financial losses, disruption to operations, and questions from customers about food safety. Staff had to clear shelves, decide what could no longer be sold, and manage the impact on shoppers while systems were brought back under control.
The incident highlights a broader vulnerability. Refrigeration and other industrial controls in retail spaces are often connected to networks for monitoring and efficiency. This attack shows how those connections can be abused to cause direct physical and economic damage, not just data theft.
Authorities have not publicly attributed the attack or detailed the methods used. Their findings, and any similar cases that surface in other countries or chains, will indicate whether this was an isolated incident or a sign of a wider pattern of targeting commercial control systems.
Sources
- OSINT