DOMINANT ANGLE
Paris dissects a flaw that is first of all technical: old Danfoss controllers, with no security updates, which ANSSI considers it "urgent" to disconnect from the Internet.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
About 300 Intermarché and Netto stores, fewer than a hundred Coopérative U stores, 80 Carrefour and about thirty Monoprix stores were hit in the night of October 11 to 12.
- 02
Danfoss says that "the majority of the affected units are old products" at end of life, with no security updates; ANSSI considers it "urgent to disconnect them from the Internet".
- 03
Thierry Cotillard puts the losses at "tens of millions of euros nationally"; the Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation entrusted to the Office anticybercriminalité.
ANALYSIS
Paris, October 13, 2026. In the night from Sunday, October 11 to Monday, October 12, hackers remotely took control of the refrigeration control systems of hundreds of French supermarkets. According to Le Monde, the attack was launched "probably around 11 p.m."; the hackers extended the defrost cycle from one hour to eight hours, which delayed the triggering of alarms. In the morning, Aurélien Comte, head of the fresh produce department at the Intermarché in Parempuyre (Gironde), told Sud Ouest he had "been hit by a wave of hot air" of about 50 °C, without having received any notification on his phone.
The toll varies by retailer: about 300 Intermarché and Netto stores, fewer than a hundred at Coopérative U, 80 Carrefour supermarkets, about thirty Monoprix stores and several E.Leclerc. The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation of its own accord, entrusted to the Office anticybercriminalité, and reported "outbreaks of fire".
The French press dwells on the technical flaw. According to a source close to the case cited by 20 Minutes with AFP, the attack targeted systems from the Danish manufacturer Danfoss, which says that "the majority of the affected units are old products" that have reached end of life and no longer receive security updates. The manufacturer had flagged a major vulnerability on September 18. The director general of ANSSI, Vincent Strubel, considers it "urgent to disconnect them from the Internet" or to adopt very restrictive network filtering, referring to the Danfoss AK-SM and AK-SC controllers.
Retail executives speak of an unprecedented shock. Thierry Cotillard, head of Les Mousquetaires, tells BFMTV it is "a catastrophe, never seen on this scale" and speaks of losses of "tens of millions of euros nationally"; he sees in it "a real vulnerability issue" for "food sovereignty". Dominique Schelcher, CEO of Coopérative U, says on X that "attacking equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French is extremely serious and unprecedented". In Haguenau (Bas-Rhin), an Intermarché and a Super U report 270,000 euros in losses. The perpetrators of the attack have not been identified.
SOURCES (4)
- 20 MinutesMEDIUM
- Sud OuestMEDIUM
- BFM BusinessMEDIUM
