The warning, issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI and others, comes after hundreds of supermarkets across Europe had their refrigerators remotely hacked and temperatures raised, resulting in potentially millions of euros of spoiled food. Earlier this week, cooling unit controls were tampered with at three of France’s national blood banks, the French Blood Establishment announced, though it’s unclear if the incidents are linked.
In their advisory, federal agencies noted that organizations in the healthcare, transportation, food and chemicals sectors “widely” use cooling systems that rely on “automated and remote monitoring of temperatures, continuous temperature logging, defrost cycle management, and energy optimization.” They cautioned that malicious actors may exploit vulnerabilities in “unpatched or internet-accessible controllers to remotely alter settings and force units into continuous heating and defrost cycles, which can cause widespread inventory loss and equipment hazards.”
