How Did Hackers Spoil Grocery Refrigerators?

Peter Diamandis says attackers got into grocery refrigerators that technicians manage online 24-7 and switched on defrost mode, spoiling food in stores across eight countries. The temperature hit 131 degrees Fahrenheit.

The attack hit stores in Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Estonia. In Belgium the economic cost of the spoiled food was about 100,000 euros. Three weeks earlier the same attack hit more than 500 stores across France. French authorities flagged the controllers and told operators to take the systems off the open internet. Nobody has claimed responsibility. The setup is 1990s security bolted onto 2026 connectivity. Last week, one engineer's laptop at Binance cost 6 billion dollars in stolen tokens. Every device connected to the Internet is a door where attackers can gain access.

The next one to eight years will be a tough transition. Freezers are the target today, and later hits are expected on banks, power supplies, energy systems, and the grid. Cyber offense now runs with humans out of the loop, while cyber defense still keeps a human in the loop. Small swarms of agents can attack multiple vulnerabilities and find little glitches. A lot of fingers are pointing at Russia.