Abstract:
Hackers launched cyberattacks on hundreds of supermarkets in France. Reports say the attacks caused refrigerators and freezers to overheat, caused a large amount of food to spoil, and even caused fires. According to news on Monday, the refrigeration equipment of French supermarket chains such as Carrefour, Monopolys, Intermars and Coopérative U, a subsidiary of the Muscatel Group, soared to
50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) at night.
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On October 12, 2026, a customer walked into the Intermars supermarket in Issy-les-Mulino, a suburb of Paris, France. This comes after a cyber attack caused the refrigeration equipment of the supermarket chains Intmar and Coopérative U to thaw.
Coopérative U CEO Dominique Scherscher confirmed that the cyber attack affected "refrigeration facilities in multiple stores."
Scherscher said in a LinkedIn post: "The attack and destruction of key equipment that ensures the storage of fresh food and is related to the food supply of the French people is extremely serious and unprecedented. This is completely unacceptable."
Comment has been sought from Carrefour, Monopolys, Intermars, Coopérative U and Leclerc supermarkets, but has not yet received a reply.
Felix Aimé, senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at the Threat Detection and Research Department of cybersecurity agency Sekoia, cited Reuters reports that the attack also spread to Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, Belgium and other European countries.
European Union Agriculture and Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen posted on the
Artificial intelligence boosts the escalation of cyber attacks
Musketai Group sent an email to said that this incident affected about 180 stores and the estimated losses will reach
millions of euros
.The group said that this attack affected a service provider responsible for managing the refrigeration systems of some stores, causing some fresh and frozen food display cabinets to stop working.
A spokesman for Muscati Group said: "Intermesh and Neto supermarkets have taken all necessary measures to remove and dispose of all affected products as soon as possible to ensure consumer safety. Some store equipment overheated and produced smoke, but no fire reports have been received yet."
The company is currently waiting for the verification results of the court-appointed notary and insurance experts to calculate the accurate amount of losses.
Ahold Delhaize (the operator of Stop & Shop), the parent company of Albert Heijn, a well-known Dutch supermarket chain, said that its network experienced a "security failure" and the relevant systems have been offline, but offline stores have maintained normal operations.
This incident occurred against the background of high incidence of cyber attacks and cyber crimes. Experts warn that artificial intelligence is amplifying the destructive power of cyberattacks. Last week, a network security breach occurred on the British ASOS e-commerce platform, and some users' personal information was leaked. In July this year, a small power plant in the UK was hit by a suspected Iran-linked cyber attack and was forced to shut down for four days.
Interpol has previously stated that artificial intelligence can be used to attack a large number of targets at the same time, which is increasing the scale and speed of cyber attacks. "This is an iterative evolution of technology, not a disruptive change."
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