Freezer Hacks Disrupt Food Suppliers And Threaten Blood Storage
Attacks on internet-connected refrigeration systems have spoiled food across Europe and prompted a US warning after incidents at military facilities and French blood-storage sites.
Cyberattacks on internet-connected refrigeration systems have raised temperatures in supermarkets and cold-storage facilities, spoiling food and briefly threatening blood supplies in France. US agencies are warning organizations that rely on these systems to secure them, as investigators examine incidents at US military facilities.
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What happened
According to Wired, recent attacks affected supermarket chains in at least 11 European countries, with temperature spikes forcing stores to discard large quantities of food. TechCrunch describes two waves of attacks across the United Kingdom and Europe affecting at least a dozen countries. Wired also reports that similar attacks struck hundreds of French stores in October.
Wired says three French sites handling blood and plasma bags were briefly affected when cold rooms storing blood were raised to very high temperatures on November 2. France’s blood service said alarms and staff detected the changes quickly, and the blood was not damaged. TechCrunch likewise reports that the attack was stopped before the blood supply was compromised.
In the United States, roughly six commissaries and grocery stores on military bases experienced similar incidents in August that spoiled food, according to Wired. The Pentagon is investigating those incidents, the report says.
How the systems were exposed
The attacks highlight risks in refrigeration controllers that can be reached over the internet. Wired says the earlier wave against French supermarkets appears to have involved unpatched controllers, including software versions allegedly protected by weak, date-based passwords. It reports that many hacks exploited vulnerabilities in controllers made by Danish company Danfoss. Danfoss has said affected systems were running outdated firmware and urged customers to update their products.
TechCrunch reports that some affected Danfoss systems had stopped receiving security updates. The outlet says CISA, the FBI and other US departments warned that attackers could alter temperatures, potentially causing lost inventory, equipment hazards or fires. Wired reports that CISA also identified authentication bypasses, code injection and weak configurations as possible ways to exploit cold-storage systems.
Attribution and the response
Who carried out the attacks, and whether they are connected, remains unclear. TechCrunch says researchers have broadly attributed the hacks to Iran and that US officials reportedly suspect Iran in the military-base incidents. Wired presents a less settled picture: it says researchers have identified possible Iran-linked ties in some cases and signs of Russia-based involvement in others. Russian hacktivists claimed some attacks without credible evidence, Wired reports, while the Kremlin denied involvement.
US agencies urged organizations to take remote-control systems off the internet, strengthen passwords, apply available patches and retire equipment vendors no longer support, according to TechCrunch. Wired reports that Sweden’s National Cyber Security Center also advised businesses to inventory connected devices, disconnect them where possible, and control access and monitor those that must remain online.
Sources
This story was compiled by AI from the reports below. Read the originals for the full details.