Fridge hack costing millions and sparking fires stemmed from poor security
Poorly secured supermarket refrigeration controllers were mass-hacked, causing fires and huge reported losses across Europe.
Researchers say a mass compromise of poorly secured supermarket refrigeration controllers caused fires and likely cost tens or hundreds of millions of euros. Affected stores reportedly left outdated controllers on the public internet without VPNs, IP allowlists, changed default credentials, or current firmware. Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, and Belgium were reportedly affected. Copeland acknowledged a vulnerability in a discontinued end-of-life controller generation, and Danfoss was also cited as referring to discontinued models. The attacker has stayed silent, leaving vandalism or a state-linked disruption among the speculated motives.