Cooling-system attacks put food and blood supplies at risk
U.S. agencies including CISA and the FBI warned critical-infrastructure operators Thursday after attacks reportedly raised temperatures at hundreds of European supermarkets, potentially spoiling millions of euros in food, The Record reported. The French Blood Establishment also said cooling controls were tampered with at three national blood banks; whether those incidents are linked is unclear.
Attackers can exploit vulnerable or internet-accessible controllers to change temperature settings and force equipment into continuous heating or defrost cycles. The controller may keep operating as configured, but the altered settings can spoil perishable stock or create equipment hazards without disrupting an organization’s IT systems.
If your organization relies on remote refrigeration for food, blood, medicines, or chemicals, the same physical risk applies. The supermarket attacks, blood-bank tampering, and earlier U.S. military commissary malfunctions have not been tied to one cause, so a shared explanation should not be assumed.
government on Thursday called on critical infrastructure operators to safeguard their cooling systems following hacks that have caused chaos in European supermarkets in recent weeks.