Cyberattack disrupts refrigeration and destroys perishable inventory at Intermarché supermarkets across France

During the night of October 11–12, 2026, attackers manipulated remotely accessible refrigeration control systems at approximately 150 Intermarché supermarkets in France, raising refrigerator and freezer temperatures to around 50°C for approximately six hours. The disruption compromised cold-storage rooms and refrigerated retail displays, breaking the cold chain and forcing affected stores to discard fresh and frozen merchandise to prevent food safety risks. Intermarché confirmed that some refrigerated display units were out of service, while independent reporting documented extensive inventory losses, temporary store closures, and the need to replenish affected merchandise over subsequent days. Refrigeration equipment using outdated Danfoss firmware was implicated, although investigators had not publicly established the precise intrusion mechanism or whether an external refrigeration service provider was initially compromised. The incident materially disrupted temperature-controlled inventory storage, product availability, and retail operations across multiple locations.