A customer enters an Intermarché supermarket in Issy-les-Moulineaux, a Paris suburb, on October 12, 2026, following a cyberattack affecting French supermarket chains Intermarché and Coopérative U which caused their refrigerators to defrost.
Dimitar Dilkoff | Afp | Getty Images
Hackers have targeted hundreds of French supermarkets in a cyberattack that is believed to have caused fridges and freezers to overheat, spoiling food and starting fires.
Refrigerators at French supermarket chains Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarché, owned by Les Mousquetaires, and Coopérative U, among others, have all seen refrigerators heat up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight, Reuters reported on Monday.
The CEO of Coopérative U, Dominique Schelcher, confirmed that cyberattacks had affected “the refrigerated production facilities of several stores”.
“Attacking equipment essential to the preservation of fresh produce and the food supply of the French is extremely serious and unprecedented. It is unacceptable,” Schelcher said in a message published on LinkedIn.
CNBC contacted Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarché, Coopérative U et E Leclerc for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Felix Aime, senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at Sekoia Threat Detection and Research, said the attack affected several European countries, including Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium, according to the Reuters article.
“I strongly condemn the cyberattack targeting food products at @intermarche @CooperativeU @Leclerc,” European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen said in a message on X on Monday.
“Food security requires more attention at all levels. Because the weaponization of food has become a reality.”
AI-enhancing cyberattacks
The Musketeers said they expected the damage, which affected around 180 stores, to reach “several million euros in losses”, in an email to CNBC.
Some fresh and frozen food displays were taken out of service after the cyberattack hit one of its service providers responsible for managing refrigeration systems in some stores.
“Intermarché and Netto have taken all necessary precautions to withdraw and dispose of the affected products as quickly as possible, in order to ensure the safety of consumers,” said the Mousquetaires spokesperson. “In some stores, overheating of equipment caused smoke, but no fires were reported.”
They are now awaiting the conclusions of a bailiff and insurance experts to obtain more precise figures on the damage.
Stop & Shop owner Ahold Delhaize, which owns the popular Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn, said it was experiencing a “security issue within its network” and that the systems had been taken offline. She said her stores were still open.
This comes amid a wider wave of cyberattacks and cybercrimes, which experts warn are being empowered by AI. British online fashion retailer Asos experienced a cybersecurity breach last week that exposed some customers’ personal information.
Meanwhile, a small power station in the United Kingdom was shut down for four days in July following a cyberattack believed to be linked to Iran.
Interpol’s global head of information security, Bjorn R. Watn, recently told CNBC that AI can be used to target multiple victims at once and increases the scale and speed of cyberattacks. “It’s an evolution, not a revolution.”
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