PARIS, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Refrigeration systems, everyday equipment critical to food supply chains and public infrastructure, are increasingly becoming targets of cyberattacks, highlighting how inadequate protection of such devices can pose serious risks to business operations and public services.
The latest incident involved plasma-storage facilities operated by France's national blood service, following a series of similar attacks on supermarkets in France and other European countries that disrupted refrigeration systems and resulted in food losses.
WIDENING TARGETS
The French Blood Establishment said "temperature and defrosting thresholds were raised to extremely high levels" on Monday at three of its plasma cold-storage sites, according to a statement released late Tuesday.
Monitoring systems quickly detected the problem, allowing staff to take timely action so that "no blood products or samples were compromised," it said.
The incident followed a large-scale cyberattack on French supermarkets in mid-October, when hackers raised the temperatures of refrigerators and freezers at hundreds of stores to as high as 50 degrees Celsius, causing fires and food spoilage.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told Parliament that about 700 of the country's 10,000 supermarkets had been affected, describing the incident as a "wake-up call for everyone" that "touches the heart of our food security."
A new wave of similar attacks was reported on Monday, affecting supermarkets in at least nine European countries, including Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden. Retailers were forced to discard spoiled food after refrigeration temperatures rose overnight.
European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen said the attacks were "a deliberate attempt to disrupt our food supply chain and undermine consumers' confidence in it," warning that the incidents required serious attention.
VULNERABLE SYSTEMS
The growing use of internet-connected appliances has created new cybersecurity risks. Katerina Mitrokotsa, a cybersecurity professor at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, said devices with computing capabilities were increasingly being treated as ordinary household and commercial appliances rather than as potential security risks.
Weak security measures have also left these systems vulnerable. "The cyberattack on French supermarkets was a result of exploitation of known vulnerabilities," Liz Lloyd, British Minister for Space, Cyber and Regulatory Reform, said in a speech. "It's a clear demonstration that poor cyber hygiene, like weak passwords, continues to put organizations at risk."
Richard Horne, head of Britain's National Cyber Security Centre, said the affected refrigerators were "connected directly to the internet with default passwords."
The lack of proper maintenance and oversight is another contributing factor. "Organizations are pouring budget into AI and digital transformation while the systems that keep food cold, water clean, and lights on often run on hardware that has not been funded since installation," said Nicole Carignan, senior vice president of security and AI strategy at cybersecurity company Darktrace.
In addition, management of the affected retailers was likely outsourced to third parties that had given little thought to securing the equipment, said Munro, a partner at a British cybersecurity firm.
STRENGTHENING DEFENSES
"Retailers need to act now. They should identify whether their refrigerator controllers are vulnerable, check if they are connected to the internet, ensure they've got the latest security updates and are supported by the manufacturer," said Frank Groenewegen, cybersecurity expert at Deloitte in The Hague.
If retailers were unsure about the security status of their systems, he advised them to disconnect them from the public internet immediately. "With disconnecting, you haven't fixed the root cause but you've at least isolated those systems so that an attacker is not able to do this anymore."
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity also called for closer cooperation among member states, saying the widespread attacks on retailers underscored the need for "rapid information-sharing and coordinated responses to cyber incidents."
Looking ahead, Horne warned that the attacks on supermarket fridges were just an early sign of what could become increasingly frequent disruptions as old technology fails to keep pace with hackers. ■
