US Issues Warning on Global Cyberattacks Targeting Industrial Cooling Systems, Risking Food Spoilage and Fires - Thairath English
US security and government agencies issued a severe cyber threat alert after discovering hacker groups targeting vulnerabilities in temperature control and industrial refrigeration systems across multiple countries. The attacks affect warehouses, supply chains, food, and blood banks, posing risks of damage to food and medical supplies as well as potential fire hazards.
US government agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Transportation, and Department of Agriculture jointly released a statement warning of ongoing cyber threats targeting industrial refrigeration systems.
These threats stem from malicious actors exploiting vulnerabilities in internet-connected electronic temperature control systems that have not been updated with security patches. Targets include refrigerated warehouses, retail consumer goods stores, agricultural sectors, transportation, and healthcare.
The CISA statement explained that if hackers successfully breach these systems, they could remotely alter temperatures, causing severe physical damage such as fire risks from machinery malfunctions, loss of goods and raw materials in refrigerated warehouses and supermarkets, and reduced lifespan of industrial refrigeration equipment.
Chris Butera, acting deputy executive director for cybersecurity at CISA, emphasized, "All organizations relying on refrigeration and temperature monitoring systems should always be aware that they could be targets of attacks at any time." Meanwhile, Brett Litherman, FBI's cyber operations director, noted that governments worldwide have detected such attacks on critical infrastructure.
This warning follows several waves of commercial refrigeration hacks in recent months. In the US, Pentagon investigators are urgently probing mysterious cooling system failures at six US military bases in August, believed to be caused by cyberattacks.
In France, recent hacks of refrigeration units in retail stores caused damages totaling tens of millions of euros. French authorities also revealed hackers attempted to breach systems to raise temperatures in the national blood bank network. Meanwhile, several European countries experienced unexplained temperature spikes in refrigeration units, spoiling food in stores across Luxembourg, Belgium, and Sweden. As of last Monday, over 100 additional European stores have been affected.
US authorities have issued emergency recommendations for operators, including immediately disconnecting internet access by removing refrigeration control devices from public networks, segregating control devices from organizational main networks to prevent external access, promptly updating software security patches, and changing all access passwords.
Cybersecurity experts warn that the relatively small number of industrial refrigeration system manufacturers mostly share similar vulnerabilities, making widespread attacks on additional warehouses and medical laboratories highly likely in the future.
