French officials suspect state-backed Iranian hackers tampered with commercial fridges
French officials suspect that state-backed Iranian hackers were behind a wave of cyberattacks that hit commercial refrigerators in France last month.
Hackers messed with the temperature controls on commercial fridges, several of which were obsolete or running outdated firmware, causing some to overheat or even catch fire, leading to the attack's total costs could add up to tens of millions of euros nationwide, one French supermarket owner estimated.
More than 100 European sites targeted
The trouble didn't stop there: a second round of attacks this month targeted more than 100 sites across Europe, including French blood banks, prompting employees there to move some of the blood to different cold storage units.
Similar hacks hit US military commissaries in August, prompting Pentagon investigations.
The incidents highlight how outdated tech can be an easy target in today's tense global cybersecurity scene.