Hundreds of French supermarkets saw their refrigeration systems defrosted, spoiling tons of frozen food. The unprecedented attack has raised serious questions about food security across Europe.
Hundreds of French supermarkets were forced to throw away perishable goods on Monday after hackers commandeered refrigeration systems across the country, spoiling stock at major chains in a sophisticated overnight cyberattack.
Hackers destroyed the food by taking control of refrigeration systems at Cooperative U, Leclerc, Les Mousquetaires, and Intermarche stores across the country and then defrosting thousands of freezer and refrigeration units.
During the overnight attack, in some cases, fully-stocked fridges were heated up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) for more than six hours. Over 400 stores were hit according to retailers.
Defrost mode. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crq5nzxv9q4yo
Industrial controls are terrifying in terms of just how catastrophically they can cause the device to fail. Connecting machines to the internet is an incredible liability.
I once tried to beg the SCADA department to let me have a single line of sight radio transmitter for data collection. Not for control, and not even over the internet! They said no, which was the right thing to do.
Automation engineer here:
Yup, this. My cybersecurity plan for the fridges would be “what the fuck why are they exposed to any external networks for any reason?”