Refrigeration cyberattacks highlight the risks of connecting industrial systems to the internet

After a previous attack in France that affected hundreds of supermarkets in October, market chains in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden experienced stark rises in fridge and freezer temperatures on Monday, forcing them to throw away spoilt produce. Industrial equipment such as refrigeration systems, once operated largely offline, is now commonly connected to the internet so it can be monitored and managed remotely, cybersecurity specialists including Antoine Hautin, secretary-general of the Almond cybersecurity consultancy, told AFP. That connectivity can also provide an avenue for attackers to interfere with physical systems through digital networks. Real-world effects The attack in France targeted a fridge regulation system made by the Danish firm Danfoss, which is used by many shops. "Most of the time, that's done through a web interface. You connect to it with a password and you then have the possibility to choose what the temperature in the fridge is," said Kevin Tellier, cybersecurity engineer at Synacktiv. While these systems "are normally on a closed network" and "are not supposed to be accessible from the Internet", a number of them...