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Find the risky connected devices at work or home

Attackers reached the remote control panels behind hundreds of French supermarkets' fridges. List the connected kit at your work or home and find the weak spots.

By Alan Brown

Video cover: Hackers turned supermarket freezers into ovens
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🔥 Hackers just turned supermarket freezers into ovens.

  • 🛒 On the night of 11 October, attackers took remote control of fridges and freezers at hundreds of French supermarkets, including Intermarché, Carrefour, Coopérative U and Monoprix stores.
  • 🌡️ Systems were switched into defrost, with some reportedly reaching around 50°C (122°F). Food was thrown out, and the Paris prosecutor's inquiry covers equipment that began to catch fire.
  • 🖥️ How? Many supermarket fridges run off one online control panel, so technicians can fix things remotely. France's CERT-FR named Danfoss AK-SM and AK-SC controllers, including older models that no longer get security updates.
  • 🔑 Researchers at Claroty had already flagged a hidden "code of the day" login in the newer AK-SM 800A, a password derived from the date, which Danfoss has since patched: blog.claroty.com/team82/research/freeze-the-controller-defrost-the-food-uncovering-vulnerabilities-in-danfoss-refrigeration-controllers
  • 🌍 Claroty found thousands of these management panels reachable online, and on 2 November more than 100 shops across Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden and Ireland reported fridges running hot too.

Context & limitations

Nobody has confirmed how the attackers got in, and no one has claimed it. The prompt below helps you find the connected kit in your own building before someone else does.

Do this yourself

Help me find the internet-connected devices at my ___ (shop, office, restaurant, home) that could be a risk, like the refrigeration controllers attackers took over in French supermarkets. Ask me one question at a time until you have a list: things like fridges and freezers, heating and air-con, cameras, door entry, alarms, card machines, smart plugs, printers, the router, and anything a technician or supplier can log into remotely. For each one, ask who set it up and whether I know its login. Stop once the list is complete. Then give me a table with, for each device: 1. What could go wrong if a stranger controlled it, in one plain sentence. 2. A risk rating: high, medium or low, with one sentence of reasoning. 3. Whether it's likely reachable from the internet, and how I could check without technical tools (for example, asking the supplier or checking whether I can log in from my phone on mobile data). 4. The fix: change the default password, update the firmware, take it off the internet, or ask the supplier for a secure remote-access setup. Finish with the three things I should do this week, in order, and the exact questions to ask any supplier who has remote access. Check current sources and the maker's own security advisories for any specific product I name. Don't tell me a device is safe or unsafe for certain, and don't suggest anything that involves scanning or accessing systems I don't own.

Most of these attacks start with a device nobody remembers is online. Making the list is the step that actually reduces your risk, and the AI keeps it to plain-English next steps.

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