A supermarket cyberattack has disrupted refrigeration at several Coopérative U stores in France, the chain’s president, Dominique Schelcher, confirmed. Teams were working with refrigeration specialists to restore service, with the attack affecting equipment essential to preserving fresh food.
Schelcher described the incident as extremely serious and unprecedented in an October 12 statement. He said an investigation would need to establish what happened. The confirmation puts refrigeration at the center of the French incident, but the full extent of the disruption remains uncertain.
Defrosting claims remain unconfirmed
The attack may also have affected Danfoss-made refrigeration controls at Intermarché and Leclerc stores. The involvement of those systems and the extent of any disruption at those chains have not been independently verified.
Claims that attackers forced refrigeration units into continuous defrosting, using a 50°C setting, also remain unverified. The allegation concerns manipulation of an existing defrost function, but the exact method and affected configurations have not been established.
Financial losses are similarly uncertain. Estimates approaching €300,000, along with suggestions that the nationwide bill could reach several million euros, have not been independently verified. A reliable picture of the financial impact will depend on establishing the extent of the damage.
For Coopérative U, Schelcher emphasized the seriousness of targeting equipment used to preserve fresh products and support food supplies. His response focused on getting the cooling systems working again and establishing the circumstances of the attack.
Dutch outages affect deliveries and shelf prices
In the Netherlands, Albert Heijn said an IT incident had affected its operations, as well as Etos and Gall & Gall. The company said it had temporarily switched off systems to protect its IT environment. Its parent company, Ahold Delhaize, separately acknowledged a security issue within its network.
Albert Heijn said those precautionary shutdowns had made websites, apps and customer service unavailable. Logistics systems were also taken offline, preventing delivery of groceries ordered online.
The company said stores remained open and checkout systems were working, but electronic shelf labels could still display the previous week’s promotional prices. That could leave some displayed prices lower than those charged at the checkout. The company’s explanation describes stale pricing information; it does not establish that hackers directly compromised the labels.
Albert Heijn said nationwide advertised promotions still worked, while app-linked savings schemes and personalized discounts were affected. Those interruptions included collecting and redeeming loyalty benefits. The company said customers missing personal discounts would be compensated when possible. It did not give a timetable for bringing the affected services back online.
Belgium’s Delhaize chain may also have experienced disruption, although the scope and nature of any impact there have not been independently verified.
Whether the French refrigeration attack and the Dutch network incident are connected remains unclear. Treating them as a single attack across Europe would go beyond the confirmed details. The French response concerns restoring refrigeration, while the Dutch disruption includes services taken offline as a protective measure.