World · Union Post UK
S upermarket fridges overheating and spoiling food. Streets brought to a standstill by malfunctioning traffic lights. Power and water supplies cut off when we need them most.
Government emergency alert systems blaring warnings of a critical attack against us on our phones. It sounds like the terrifying opening of a science fiction novel, but at least half of these things have happened in the last week across Europe. While ordinary folks in Russia and Ukraine cowered in fear after their phones warned of imminent nuclear attack – the result of hackers trying to ratchet up the tension – shoppers across a number of European countries watched their food melt and spoil as temperatures reached more than 50C.
Just yesterday, UK meat processing firms in the UK were hit by cyber attacks , though the reported impact on the public is “minimal”. The UK’s cybersecurity chief has said the country has gotten away with ‘doing tech on the cheap’ – but those days are over (PA) How the former attack was launched is still being investigated. The latter was done by leveraging out-of-date fridge systems.
“They triggered the built-in automatic defrost function, which normally runs for about two hours a day, and reconfigured it into a continuous forced cycle with the temperature set to 50C,” explains Alan Woodward, professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey. We need to get used to the chaos and confusion , because, as the UK ’s cyber security chief Richard Horne has warned this week, hits on networks and services that affect our everyday life are coming for us in due course. “For decades, we have collectively got away with doing tech on the cheap,” Horne said, announcing the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) State of the Cybernation.
Until now, the presumption has been that cyberattacks, when they come, would be against big critical infrastructure rather than smaller targets closer to home. But this is being quickly corrected. “The targets in cyber warfare aren’t just militaries, but civilian services and critical infrastructure that people rely on every day,” says Graham Taylor CBE, director of defence strategy for northern Europe at cybersecurity company OPSWAT.
Taylor says that “the aim is to generate confusion, create panic and make people doubt the very systems that are there to protect them”. And it’s going to happen more than ever as the ease with which attacks can be launched becomes easier thanks to AI. Speaking at the Fal.con Europe cybersecurity conference in Barcelona this week, George Kurtz, chief executive of cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, warned that AI could make the capabilities once reserved for nation-state hackers available to much less sophisticated attackers.
“The scarcity is over,” he told the audience, explaining that sophisticated attacks once required enormous resources, expertise and patience. “Now there’s a new apex predator, and that’s the agent,” he said, arguing that AI agents could allow ordinary cybercriminals to operate with capabilities previously associated with state-sponsored hackers . That’s something Spencer Starkey, executive vice president for EMEA at cybersecurity company SonicWall, agrees with.
He says: “AI lets attackers find and exploit weaknesses faster and at greater scale.” The NCSC has identified everything from smart speakers and security cameras to thermostats, kettles, fridges and washing machines as internet-connected devices that need to be kept secure because they could, in theory, be hacked remotely. But what would happen if they were? Fridges, freezers and other household devices This week’s attacks on fridges are the low-hanging fruit.
“Cooling units are easy to attack as they frequently exist outside the reach of endpoint agents,” says Jamie Moles, senior technical manager at cybersecurity company ExtraHop. But we’ll see other items potentially fall victim without careful oversight of how they’re protected. Empty fridges in a Supervalu store in Lucan, Dublin, after a cyber attack (PA) “Remote maintenance makes refrigeration easier to manage, but retailers need a clear picture of every connected system, who can access it, and who is responsible for its security,” says Alan Simpson, field chief information security officer at Rapid7.
Fridges and freezers are just the start of it. An increasing number of household devices connect to the internet so owners can monitor and control them remotely. But each connection creates a potential entry point for hackers looking to access personal data, spy on households or take control of the devices themselves.
The vulnerability is usually in the device’s software, its internet connection or the account used to control it; if criminals compromise an account through, say, non-secure passwords or exploit a weakness in the service (outdated software), then they may gain access to multiple devices. Smart thermostats and central heating systems People find the ability to turn up their thermostat before arriving home a boon, particularly at this time of year. But smart thermostats are just another of the items that could fall victim to an attack – and the same way that you can heat up your home, so could a hacker, potentially pushing it beyond the point of comfort to something stifling.
Alternatively, they could knock it out completely, sending the temperature plummeting in the winter months. And the easy way hackers can do so is by taking advantage of our laziness as humans. The temptation is to decline software updates when nagged by our devices, but they’re important for security – and not doing so is how the fridges across Europe were taken over.
Smart locks and home devices A compromised smart lock could also be a problem if it allows thieves to get into a property, while illicit access to a connected camera or baby monitor – or something as simple as a smart home device like an Amazon Alexa – could allow an intruder to see or hear things that were supposed to remain private. Each of these could, if not kept updated with the latest security patches, fall victim to hacks. In 2019, cybersecurity researchers at F-Secure discovered that they could intercept communications between the lock and its smartphone app and extract the secret passphrase controlling it, which could allow an attacker to open the door.
And last year, researchers at the University of California San Diego discovered five vulnerabilities in the Master Lock D1000. One allowed an attacker within Bluetooth range to replay a previously recorded communication and unlock the door. Home security systems could be turned against those who buy them (Getty) The consequences of a hacker gaining access to your movements could be enormous.
Not only could it compromise physical security, but compromised devices could do everything from sharing illicit images or video of you to listening in on your conversations and building up a picture of who you are – information with which they could then launch social engineering attacks to gain access to your bank accounts. Last December, South Korean police arrested four people accused of hacking approximately 120,000 internet-connected cameras in homes and businesses. The criminals allegedly exploited weak passwords, including simple combinations such as 1111, to gain access to cameras.
They stole footage, produced sexually exploitative videos and sold them on overseas websites. And unlike freezers, which give away that they have been hacked by not working, compromised smart devices could, in theory, listen in or watch on without the user knowing, meaning they’re constantly surveilled. Smart TVs Even our televisions could be vulnerable.
In April, security researchers showed how they could gain deep control over an older Samsung smart TV with the assistance of an AI coding agent. The demo required access to the physical device in order to be able to launch its web browser, from where the attack took place, so it couldn’t be done remotely. But it showed the way in which a seemingly innocuous device can become a target for those with bad intentions.
And as with other devices, the temptation is to turn on Netflix and turn off automatic software updates when they’re offered. UK's National Cyber Security Centre recommends keeping television software updated, securing accounts with strong passwords and enabling two-factor authentication where available. It also advises checking the device's privacy settings and switching off remote access whenever it isn't needed.
Traffic lights and motorway signs Some of the potential targets are things we take for granted but rely on wholly for our society to function. In 2024, researchers discovered that a traffic light controller used in the US could be accessed without authentication, potentially allowing attackers to change the timing of signals and bring roads to a standstill. Safety mechanisms prevented them from simply turning every light green, but they could still theoretically create gridlock.
Bad sign: hacking into a traffic instruction board could easily cause chaos on UK roads (Getty) Electronic motorway signs aren’t necessarily safe, either. Research published earlier this year identified vulnerabilities in controllers used for digital signs, potentially allowing attackers to display false warnings or instructions that could bring our roads to a crawl. But because they’re seen as critical national infrastructure and overseen by public bodies, our road network is less likely to fall victim.
Connected cars Attackers might not need to focus on road infrastructure to wreak havoc – they could simply target our cars . Anyone who’s paid for an MOT or service recently will know that modern vehicles are now as much computers as they are machines with an engine and exhaust. Researchers have also successfully exploited vulnerabilities that allow attackers to interfere with the way a vehicle works.
That can be done by everything from taking advantage of unpatched and un-updated software to attaching devices within the vehicle, just as we would when plugging in a phone to play some music. Coupled with the geopolitical debate around Chinese car manufacturers expanding in the UK, it has become a hot-button issue. Security officials have raised concerns about the amount of information connected vehicles collect and whether we’re creating a giant off button for a hostile nation-state to press should they choose – though the manufacturers themselves say they would not and do not hand over data.
Cash machines Some hackers might not want to cause chaos – they just might want to cash out , making our payment and money system vulnerable. Last year the FBI reported more than 700 incidents of so-called “jackpotting” in the United States, where criminals use malicious software to force ATMs to dispense cash that ought not to be given away. Hackers in these cases are able to exploit holes found in old versions of ATM software that hadn’t been updated.
Even a small disruption in the UK’s LINK ATM network could cause issues with withdrawing money (AFP/Getty) In the UK, the vast majority of cash machines connect through the LINK network, which connects banks, card issuers and ATM operators. Should even a small section of this system go down, it would likely trigger widespread panic. In written evidence to Parliament in 2026, LINK highlighted what happened during the massive Iberian power blackout in April 2025, and emphasised how resilience needed to be built up here.
LINK told Parliament that its national emergency planning assumes people should be able to cope for the initial three to four days of a major disruption. It recommended that households keep some physical cash available, £50 per adult and £25 per child to cover the first three to four days of a power or telecommunications outage. The government's new Be Ready emergency preparedness guidance, published on 22 October 2026, includes keeping cash as part of its advice to households on how to increase resilience.
And as we see more incursions into the infrastructure that sits a lot closer to home – like the frozen aisle in the supermarket - the threat suddenly feels very real. “These attacks show hackers are now willing to spoil the milk,” says Martin Riley, chief technology officer at cybersecurity company Bridewell. “The organisations that act now, while the consequence is wasted food rather than something worse, will be the ones that are not in next month's headlines.”
Source: The Independent
