Federal agencies warn organizations about potential cyberattacks on industrial refrigerators

The U.S. government is warning grocery stores, hospitals, and other businesses that use large refrigerators and freezers to strengthen their computer security. On Thursday, five federal agencies released a joint notice saying that hackers could target refrigeration systems used across the country. The warning came after a wave of cyberattacks in Europe, where criminals remotely changed the temperatures of commercial fridges and freezers. Officials say the same thing could happen in the United States if businesses do not act quickly.

The five agencies that issued the warning are the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Transportation. They said that hackers around the world are taking advantage of weaknesses in refrigeration systems. Many of these systems are either connected to the internet or have not had their software updated in a long time, making them easy targets.

According to CISA, if hackers successfully break into these systems, they could change the temperature inside freezers and fridges. This could cause serious problems, such as fire hazards, spoiled food, or damage to the equipment itself. CISA's acting executive assistant director for cybersecurity, Chris Butera, said, 'Every organization that depends on refrigeration and monitoring systems should assume it could be a target.'

CISA shared a list of steps that businesses can take to protect themselves. These include changing their passwords, disconnecting refrigeration devices from the internet, and updating their software to fix known weaknesses. Experts say that taking these simple steps can make it much harder for hackers to get in.

The federal warning also came after reports of refrigeration problems at six U.S. military bases in August. The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, a federal law enforcement unit, has opened an investigation into those incidents. Officials have not yet confirmed whether those outages were caused by cyberattacks.

In Europe, hackers have already hit refrigerators at grocery stores in Luxembourg, Belgium, and Sweden. Shoppers in those countries saw food spoil because the fridges got too warm without warning. France was also targeted — hackers tried to raise temperatures at several blood banks that store emergency blood supplies, which could have been very dangerous for patients in need.

Security expert Joshua Corman, who works at the Institute for Security and Technology, says he expects more attacks like these in the future. He warned that refrigeration systems used by medical labs, grocery stores, and large warehouses in the U.S. are likely just as open to attack. 'There's only so many players that do industrial-level refrigeration, and they're likely also just as vulnerable,' he told CBS News.