In the wake of the cyber attacks in Europe: The National Cyber System warns the marketing chains in Israel to protect themselves immediately against takeover of cooling systems.
The National Cyber System is warning the marketing chains, food companies and logistics centers in Israel against cyber attacks targeting refrigeration and freezing systems using controllers connected to the Internet. This, following an unusual wave of attacks in Europe, in which attackers managed to remotely take control of temperature control systems in supermarkets, change the refrigeration settings and spoil large quantities of food. The attacks caused heavy economic damages, disruptions in the activity of marketing chains and in some cases even damage to equipment and fires.
In cases reported in Europe, attackers exploited weaknesses in Internet-connected control systems to cause physical damage. Among other things, the attackers remotely changed the temperature settings and activated the defrosting systems in a way that caused the refrigerators and freezers to heat up. The events illustrate how a security weakness in an operational system or the absence of basic protection measures can turn into damage to goods, business continuity and even safety within hours.
In the wake of the events, the national cyber system has turned again in recent hours to the marketing chains in Israel and recommends that they perform an immediate inspection of the cooling and control systems, with an emphasis on systems that allow remote access to technicians and service providers. The networks were asked to report back to the formation on the inspection and execution of the defense operations.
Among the recommendations: make sure that the control systems are not directly exposed to the Internet, change default passwords, update outdated systems, secure remote access through multi-step authentication and activate independent alerts on unusual temperature changes.
The national cyber system emphasizes that the events in Europe illustrate the need to protect not only information systems but also operational systems connected to the network. Damage to these systems may directly affect business activity and the supply of essential products to the public. The National Cyber Array calls on all organizations that operate cooling and remote control systems to examine the protection and report any unusual activity to the 119 hotline of the National Cyber Array.