In France, hackers remotely forced refrigerators and freezers in hundreds of supermarkets to heat up instead of cool down. Temperatures in some units reached 50 degrees Celsius, forcing stores to throw out food. Damages could run into tens of millions of euros.
In France, hackers remotely forced refrigerators and freezers in hundreds of supermarkets to heat up instead of cool down. Temperatures in some units reached 50 degrees Celsius, forcing stores to throw out food. Damages could run into tens of millions of euros.
This is reported by BFMTV.
When employees at affected stores opened their refrigerators in the morning, instead of the usual cold, a wave of warm air rushed out. According to one industry representative, the products in some freezers were already completely spoiled.
The attackers likely exploited the automatic defrost feature, which typically briefly turns on the heat to remove ice from the refrigeration equipment. However, the hackers likely raised the temperature to 50 degrees Celsius.
Moreover, the consequences were not limited to spoiled food. French prosecutors also reported fires as a result of the attack.
Attackers have targeted equipment from Danish manufacturer Danfoss. Danfoss confirmed that the affected systems were running outdated software. The company stressed that it has long recommended that customers install updates or upgrade to more modern equipment.
The incident is being investigated by the French cybersecurity agency ANSSI and the Paris prosecutor's office. Experts from other European countries have also joined the investigation, as similar attacks could have occurred outside France.
Previously, dev.ua wrote that hackers are massively attacking Hikvision surveillance cameras in Ukraine due to a critical vulnerability that allows remote execution of commands on devices without authorization.
