The U.S. government on Thursday called on critical infrastructure operators to safeguard their cooling systems. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI, among others, issued the warning. It follows hacks that disrupted European supermarkets in recent weeks, where hundreds of supermarkets had their refrigerators remotely hacked and temperatures raised. The source reports potentially millions of euros in spoiled food.
Earlier this week, cooling unit controls were tampered with at three of France's national blood banks, the French Blood Establishment announced. The source says it is unclear whether the incidents are linked.
In their advisory, federal agencies noted that healthcare, transportation, food and chemicals organizations widely use cooling systems that rely on automated and remote temperature monitoring, continuous temperature logging, defrost cycle management and energy optimization. The agencies warned that malicious actors may exploit unpatched or internet-accessible controllers to remotely alter settings. This could force units into continuous heating and defrost cycles, causing widespread inventory loss and equipment hazards.
Federal officials asked critical infrastructure owners to use strong authentication, keep systems updated, identify systems accessible