This week, an incident occurred in Europe that caused concern: hacker attacks affected freezers and refrigerators in supermarkets across seven countries, raising their temperature to 50°C. This incident took place early on Monday (02).
Delhaize, the largest retailer in Belgium, reported issues in dozens of stores in both Belgium and Luxembourg. The British company SuperValu was forced to remove frozen and chilled products from 13 stores.
European Commissioner for Food and Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, classified these hacker attacks as an attempt to influence food supply in the European Union. These attacks resembled those investigated by the Pentagon targeting US military base markets, as well as those that affected hundreds of French supermarkets in October.
Experts attributed the rise in such attacks to several factors. For Nascimento, the increase in the frequency of such events is fundamentally linked to the 'asymmetry between attack and defense.' He noted that the merger of Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) allowed refrigeration units, power grids, and industrial equipment to be maintained in isolated environments completely disconnected from the internet.
However, to ensure remote monitoring, energy consumption tracking, and predictive maintenance, companies connected this old equipment to corporate networks and the public internet, creating thousands of unsecured entry points.
An Internet of Things (IoT) specialist also cited two other factors contributing to the rise in hacking attacks. The first is the accelerated search for targets using Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to Nascimento, attackers no longer need to manually search for targets; they use automated AI-based tools that scan the internet around the clock, instantly finding open ports, outdated firmware, and default factory passwords on millions of devices worldwide simultaneously.
The second factor is geopolitical, not monetary, motivation. The specialist emphasized that malicious actors use these low-cost, high-impact attacks to test the resilience of a nation's supply chain and create inconvenience for the population, avoiding the need to hack highly protected government networks.
For Micaella Ribeiro, an information security specialist, OT security must combine intrusion prevention with limiting physical consequences. This requires restricting the rights of every user and supplier, segmenting networks, and monitoring changes in operating parameters. In the cooling sector, for example, it is necessary to assess whether someone with access can alter alarms or prevent the detection of temperature deviations. The specialist warned that such concentration of authority can lead to one intrusion causing a problem that is difficult to detect.
For the IoT specialist, the hacker attacks in Europe serve as a warning to the Brazilian market for three main reasons. The first is the 'install and forget' culture. In Brazil, economic efficiency and rapid scaling are often prioritized when implementing commercial IoT, while cybersecurity is considered a secondary issue. Many companies install connected sensors, smart pumps, or commercial freezers and never update their software, turning these devices into real 'time bombs' from a security perspective.
The second reason is the widespread use of outdated equipment. Due to economic factors and high import tariffs on new technologies, Brazil's infrastructure heavily relies on old (legacy) equipment. Nascimento added that modernizing these outdated systems using third-party internet modems, often inexpensive, exposes the equipment without support to global cyber threats.
Finally, the third reason is critical vulnerabilities in the supply chain. The expert noted the deep economic dependence on agribusiness, food transportation, and cold chain logistics. A coordinated attack altering temperatures in trucks, distribution centers, or grain silos can instantly paralyze local supply chains, cause food price increases, and violate export requirements.
As people increasingly live in homes where devices 'communicate' with each other—for instance, turning on lights and TVs via an Amazon Alexa device—more things in our homes are connecting to the internet. In light of recent hacker attacks in Europe and the US, experts offered advice on how users of 'smart' devices can protect themselves.
There are ways to secure a connected home, but it requires a change in mindset: moving from a passive to an active security stance. Although the primary responsibility for device security lies with manufacturers, users must establish a deliberate 'digital perimeter.' The most effective and practical smart home protection strategies include:
