A recent cyberattack on French supermarket refrigeration systems, targeting older Danfoss AK-SM800 controllers, forced temperatures up to 50°C.
The incident highlights the persistent risk of legacy IoT devices remaining online long after their end-of-life support, which concluded for these models in 2021.
With thousands of similar controllers still accessible via the public internet, this event illustrates the ongoing challenge of securing legacy infrastructure against remote manipulation.
How did the attack happen?
The incident began on Sunday night into Monday. In some cases, the temperature in the refrigerators was set to 50 degrees Celsius, causing food to spoil. The attack affected major supermarket chains, such as E. Leclerc, Intermarche and Cooperative U, while there are indications that the same problem has also occurred in a chain of stores in the Netherlands.
Danfoss systems
The compromised cooling control systems belong to Danfoss. According to the company, the attackers mainly targeted older device models, such as the AK-SM800 and AK-SC355. These are systems that no longer receive updates, while the company had pointed out since 2021 that support for the AK-SM800 model had ended.
Warnings from researchers
While the perpetrators of the attack have not yet been identified, the risks were well known. Researchers had identified security vulnerabilities in similar, newer Danfoss systems last August. At the time, they found more than 2.700 internet-connected controllers that were potentially vulnerable.
The incident prompted condemnation from the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, who underlined the seriousness of the situation.
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