Having connected devices allows for centralized and remote management. This is a huge advantage for companies with thousands of such devices scattered around, which is why large supermarket chains centralize controls such as the refrigeration of their products. The problem comes when access to the system is not adequately secured: a cyber attack destroys tons of products in France.
Answer Heat in the refrigerator. After serious problems in France, where supermarkets were affected, Sweden and Belgium are experiencing a similar episode: refrigerators of some large food chains have seen their temperature rise to the limit of 50 ºC.
The incident started affecting shops in the aforementioned countries last Sunday night. The mechanism was the same as in France: suddenly, the refrigerators changed their cold temperature, without the operators changing the stated temperature. Although initially reported as a computer failure, several media outlets are now calling it a cyber attack.
open device. If it was discovered in France that the access administration of certain Danfoss refrigerators uses “admin” as the user and day as the password code to access the system, it is not yet known what the intrusion vector was in this new attack. Everything points to old, outdated equipment, with redundant access to the Internet and protected by not-so-secure passwords.
Some of the affected supermarkets are Delhaize, Carrefour, Spar, Ica or Coop. According to the first investigation, the attackers remotely activated the evaporators in defrost mode, which raised the temperature of the chamber, putting the frozen product at risk. The total number of stores affected is not yet known nor is the damage tallied.
Disconnect, first defense. Delhaize chose the fastest option: cutting the Internet access cable. That’s the easy part, the hard part is fixing the underlying problem: According to the CEO of Subcobel, the installer that manages hundreds of these devices in Belgium, a software update isn’t enough.
Many refrigerators require physical modification, something that is not exactly economical. With France, Belgium and Sweden on the list of cyberattacks in just three weeks, it’s hard to imagine that today will be the last refrigerator hack.
Cover image Ivan Linares
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