The attack affected more than 100 Coopérative U supermarkets and around 180 stores belonging to Intermarché and its Netto brand. Carrefour said refrigeration systems in 80 of its 6,000 stores were hacked, while Monoprix said about 5% of its more than 400 stores were affected, BBC reported.
French prosecutors have opened a cybercrime investigation into the incident. The attack targeted software supplied by Danish engineering company Danfoss, which allows retailers to remotely manage refrigeration systems.
Danfoss said the affected refrigeration units were older models whose security software could not be updated. The company said it had previously advised businesses to keep supported systems updated.'
Why this matters for India
The French incident comes as India's cold chain infrastructure continues to expand.
India had 40.22 million tonnes of cold-storage capacity across 8,815 facilities as of June 2025, according to a FICCI-Grant Thornton Bharat report.
The country's cold chain covers much more than traditional cold-storage warehouses. It includes refrigerated transport, processing facilities, packhouses and other temperature-controlled infrastructure used to move perishable goods from producers to consumers.
The scale of this network makes temperature control critical for India's food supply chain. The same report estimates that between 17 million and 47 million tonnes of horticultural, dairy, meat, poultry and fish products are lost each year across the value chain.
The French attack shows how a cyber incident can create physical and financial damage without targeting customer data or payment systems. If a connected refrigeration system is manipulated, the immediate impact can be spoiled inventory and losses for businesses.
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The risk goes beyond refrigerators
The incident also draws attention to older equipment that remains connected to modern digital networks.
In France, Danfoss said some of the affected systems were older models that could no longer receive security updates. That raises a wider question for businesses using connected equipment. As more physical systems are brought online, keeping them secure may become as important as protecting conventional IT infrastructure.
For India, the lesson is particularly relevant as its cold chain grows across food retail, logistics, agriculture and pharmaceuticals. A disruption to temperature-controlled infrastructure could affect products long before they reach consumers.
The French incident is therefore a reminder that cybersecurity is no longer only about computers, websites or payment systems. For a modern food supply chain, the systems keeping products cold can also become part of the cyber risk.