London — Cyberattacks on grocery store refrigeration systems across Europe sent temperatures soaring on Monday, spoiling food and causing significant financial losses in the second such incident in less than a month. In October, hundreds of French stores were targeted in a similar attack that sent temperatures in some units soaring to 122° Fahrenheit, destroying a huge amount of food. On Wednesday, France's health service said the country's national emergency blood supply network had also been compromised by hackers this week, though alert and backup systems prevented cold storage facilities from being shut down, and no supplies were lost.
The incidents have renewed wider concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and the growing risks of internet-connected consumer "smart" technology. It is not just essential systems such as electricity grids, healthcare databases and grocery store chains' refrigeration, which can have multiple layers of security and redundancy built in, but everyday appliances that are now connected to the internet. The concern among some experts is that devices pitched as time-saving conveniences for consumers could also create potential entry points for hackers.
CBS News spoke with several cybersecurity experts who warned that similar vulnerabilities to those exploited in the grocery store hacks could exist in our homes. From heating systems and smart TVs to security cameras, door locks and ovens, millions of household appliances are now online. "Our homes may be more vulnerable than many people think.
Smart fridges, TVs, cameras, and locks are small computers connected to the internet, and like any computer, they can have weaknesses," Dr. Manny Niri, a cybersecurity lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, told CBS News. "Often the problem is simple: default or reused passwords, old software, or accounts with weak security," he said.
Professor George Loukas, head of the Centre for Sustainable Cyber Security at the University of Greenwich, said vulnerabilities in some mass-produced devices could potentially expose millions of households simultaneously. "One flaw in a popular model opens the door to every home that owns it," he said. The consequences could extend beyond hackers simply switching an appliance on or off remotely, to "anything the device is already allowed to do," Loukas said.
"If an app can turn off your heating, unlock your door or switch off your camera, so can a hacker. The physical harm comes from using the system as designed, just with malicious intent and controlled by someone other than you," he said. "Unauthorized access to a camera or microphone could reveal when people are at home, what they are doing and, potentially, their conversations," said Niri.
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