US agencies warn of cyber threat to industrial refrigeration

CISA, the FBI and the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Transportation said hackers have targeted cold-chain monitoring systems in grocery stores and storage facilities. The agencies warned that a successful attack could let intruders alter temperatures, creating fire hazards, damaging equipment or spoiling inventory across food, agriculture, transportation and medicine-shipping industries.

Two waves of attacks in recent weeks affected systems in at least a dozen countries, raising temperatures in freezers and chilling units and destroying food and produce. Some targeted equipment was made by Danish company Danfoss, which had stopped providing security updates for the affected units. In France, hackers raised temperatures in refrigerated units holding donated blood, but the attack was stopped before the supplies were compromised. The U.S. Department of Defense is also investigating hacks involving military freezers, Reuters reported. Signal and Silence first reported the attacks.

The U.S. government has not named a group or country responsible. Security researchers have broadly attributed the attacks to Iran, and U.S. officials reportedly suspect Iran was involved.

The agencies urged organizations to disconnect remote-control systems from the internet, strengthen passwords, install available patches and retire equipment no longer supported by its vendor. A separate federal fact sheet warned that attackers could force units into repeated heating and defrost cycles, leading to widespread inventory losses and equipment hazards. “Every organization that depends on refrigeration and monitoring systems should assume it could be a target,” said CISA acting cybersecurity chief Chris Butera.