France's Supermarket Fridges - Overnight Defrost, Tens of Millions in Lost Stock, and the Controllers Exposed to the Internet

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Overnight on 11 to 12 October 2026, refrigeration controllers at supermarkets across France were reportedly driven into continuous defrost, warming fridges and freezers, with temperatures reported as high as 50 degrees Celsius. Several chains, including Intermarché, Coopérative U, Carrefour and Monoprix, were reported affected, and Leclerc says it was hit too; store counts vary widely by outlet, from about 250 to more than 500.

Reported so far: the Paris prosecutor opened an investigation into a large-scale attack on connected refrigerators; the French Prime Minister's office reportedly ordered the national cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, to investigate; and Thierry Cotillard, who heads Les Mousquetaires (Intermarché's parent group), estimated losses in the tens of millions of euros in a single day. Danfoss, the controller maker, says affected units ran outdated firmware that customers had long been urged to update or replace.

Not confirmed: who did it, and exactly how they got in. Earlier vulnerabilities in the Danfoss AK-SM 8xxA family are suspected but have not been confirmed as the route.

We cover what happened, why refrigeration is an internet-connected operational technology system, the research that warned of this, and what a small hospitality or retail business in Australia should do about its own cold rooms, air conditioning and CCTV controllers.

Visit www.kinsoft.com.au to talk through your security and IT needs.

Sources: BleepingComputer; Al Jazeera; Security Affairs; Claroty Team82; CISA advisory ICSA-25-140-03; Danfoss advisory DSA-2025-08-01.