An ongoing cyberattack has reportedly struck major supermarket chains across Europe, disrupting refrigeration control systems. According to La Dépêche, the attack has targeted Danfoss‑made refrigeration controls used by French retailers Intermarché, Leclerc and Coopérative U. Dominique Schelcher, president of Coopérative U, confirmed on Monday morning that “A cyberattack has been affecting the refrigeration production facilities of several stores in our network since last night.” He said teams had been mobilised to fix the issue and promised an investigation, describing the incident as “extremely serious.”
The report states that hackers have activated the automatic defrosting function, which normally runs for just two hours a day, and configured it to run continuously with the temperature set to 50 °C. Sources described “a wave of heat” escaping from fridges and freezers as the units stayed in this forced defrost cycle.
Beyond refrigeration, the incident has affected electronic shelf labels and delivery systems. In the Netherlands, NOS reported that Albert Heijn, Etos and Gall & Gall experienced website outages on Sunday afternoon, impacting their delivery capabilities. Albert Heijn said in a statement that it had “immediately taken measures to protect our IT environment. Part of this involves the preventive temporary shutdown of a number of systems.” The compromise of electronic shelf labels has disrupted in‑store pricing, with images online showing stores in Amsterdam warning customers about price problems.
Belgium’s Delhaize chain, which is linked to Albert Heijn, has also reported disruption. The source notes that loyalty programs have been suspended as part of the fallout from the cyberattack.
Financial impact is still being assessed. Early reports indicate losses are already approaching €300 000, but could rise to several million euros nationwide. It remains unclear whether the attacks affecting the French supermarkets and the Dutch retailers are related, or how widespread either incident is.
Response teams continue to work on restoring normal operation, and the involved retailers have pledged to investigate the breach and prevent further incidents.