France Blames Iran for Fridge Hacks. How Vulnerable Is Your Smart Kitchen?

France has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of orchestrating cyberattacks that disrupted commercial refrigerators and freezers across the country in October . Hackers tampered with temperature controls, spoiling food and, in some cases, triggering fires.

Similar attacks have hit supermarket refrigeration systems in Belgium , Italy, the UK and Sweden , forcing retailers to discard spoiled food. In France, some units reportedly reached temperatures as high as 50 degrees Celsius.

Cyberattacks have affected an estimated 900 refrigeration systems across 17 European countries since the series of hacks began last month, according to figures compiled by French geopolitical journal Le Grand Continent from government statements, company disclosures and news reports. France alone accounted for more than two thirds of the attacks.

According to cybersecurity firm Claroty, many supermarkets use internet-connected refrigeration systems to monitor temperatures, adjust settings and manage equipment remotely. “For a supermarket chain operating hundreds of locations, centralised management makes a lot of sense,” says Amir Preminger, Claroty’s chief technology officer. “The problem is that these systems were designed primarily to keep refrigeration running, not necessarily with the same security protections we expect from traditional IT systems.”

The attacks expose a basic security problem: refrigeration equipment that can be reached over the public internet. Preminger says many controllers affected in France were no longer supported by their manufacturers, leaving operators unable to patch vulnerabilities. Weak passwords and outdated software can make those systems easier to compromise.

“They need to be taken off the internet or placed behind VPNs, strong authentication or a centralised, session-tracked secure access tool,” he says.

In its own research, Claroty identified 2,765 publicly accessible interfaces for refrigeration controllers made by Danfoss, a manufacturer of commercial cooling equipment. The company also uncovered security flaws in refrigeration control systems made by Copeland , another equipment manufacturer, that could allow hackers to bypass security protections and remotely execute code.

“These findings demonstrate that an attacker doesn’t necessarily need to compromise an entire corporate network to reach equipment responsible for a physical process,” Preminger notes.

Vladimir Dashchenko, a cybersecurity researcher at Kaspersky, says refrigeration control panels can also be found through engines such as Shodan and Censys, which index devices connected to the internet.

“In some cases, manufacturers fail to implement basic safeguards, such as password policy enforcement, two-factor authentication and other standard security controls,” Dashchenko says.

Ken Munro, a security researcher and CEO at UK-based Pen Test Partners, said some commercial refrigeration providers use cellular modems to manage equipment remotely, bypassing the supermarket’s own network and cybersecurity protections. That means the refrigeration systems are operating without the oversight of the supermarket’s cybersecurity team.

Munro explains this is one of the problems with how commercial refrigeration systems are managed. Providers can install equipment and remotely access it without going through the same security checks as other systems operating inside a supermarket.

Once hackers get access, they can change the temperature, interfere with defrost cycles or alter when the refrigeration system runs, depending on how much access they have.

“A controller does not need to be destroyed or completely shut down to cause damage,” Preminger says. “Manipulating the conditions inside a refrigerator or freezer can be enough to spoil food or compromise other temperature-sensitive products.”

How Secure Are Your Household Appliances?

But could hackers do the same thing to the smart refrigerator sitting in your kitchen? The risks overlap, but the systems–and their exposure–differ.

While household appliances can face similar cybersecurity vulnerabilities, most devices aren’t typically exposed to the public internet the same way commercial refrigeration systems are.

“Any device that connects to a network, communicates with an external service or allows remote management introduces a potential attack surface,” Preminger says.

However, Munro explains, there’s a key difference between the supermarket fridges being hacked in Europe and the ones people have at . Most household refrigerators connect to the internet through a router, giving them an extra layer of protection. “[A] big difference between your fridge is that it’s behind your ISP router, and that provides a layer of protection that wasn’t available to the supermarket fridges,” he says.

Munro has spent years investigating vulnerabilities in internet-connected devices, including household appliances. Over a decade ago, when Internet of Things and smart appliances were in their early stages of development, his team at Pen Test Partners found a flaw in a Samsung smart fridge that could allow hackers to intercept users’ Google login credentials. In 2018 , they took apart a newer Samsung model with a 30-inch touchscreen to examine its software.

In a statement to WIRED Middle East, Samsung said its appliances include several layers of security designed to protect users’ information and connected devices. “Samsung SmartThings also ensures a safe environment through server authentication and encryption during network communications,” the company said, adding that it operates a bug bounty programme and provides security updates for identified vulnerabilities.

Preminger adds that the commercial fridges and the ones in your kitchen aren't directly comparable. Supermarkets often use a single control system to manage the temperatures and settings of several refrigerators and freezers at once. Household fridges, on the other hand, typically operate on their own, giving hackers fewer settings and controls to tamper with.

“The concern isn’t that every smart fridge presents the same level of risk as a supermarket refrigeration network,” Munro notes. “It’s that the same basic security mistakes, including exposed interfaces, weak credentials and outdated software, can affect connected devices across both environments.”

Munro says his team also looked at whether hackers could use smart fridges to access other devices on the same network, but found no such vulnerabilities in the models they tested. “So it’d be very difficult to do something to steal personal data from your fridge nowadays,” Munro said. That hasn't been the case with other connected devices. His team has uncovered security flaws in smart TVs, security cameras and children’s toys , including vulnerabilities in Samsung TVs that could allow hackers to eavesdrop on conversations.

For consumers who want to fortify their smart devices, Munro recommends using strong, unique passwords and keeping the fridge’s software and app up to date. Preminger and Dashchenko also note that manufacturers also need to do more to secure remote access and fix vulnerabilities through regular updates.

And while smart devices have become more secure in recent years, that doesn’t mean they’re immune to hacking.