Μake us preferred on Google A butcher shop in a northern Athens suburb narrowly avoided losing its entire meat inventory after hackers allegedly gained remote access to its refrigeration system, changing the temperature settings and locking employees out of the controls.
The incident took place at a store in Kifisia, where workers arriving at around 4 a.m. to prepare wholesale orders discovered that the refrigerators, normally kept at around 0 degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit), had been set to 150 degrees Celsius (302 Fahrenheit).
The owner of the butcher shop chain told tv station SKAI that the apparent cyberattack targeted the software controlling the store’s commercial refrigeration units.
At first, employees suspected an equipment malfunction or an electrical problem. But attempts to reset the system failed, prompting them to call a technician.
View this post on Instagram
After more than an hour of troubleshooting, the technician determined that the system had apparently been compromised. The technician managed to regain control of the refrigeration system after about two hours. The temperature never rose to the level set by the hackers, and the business was able to save its entire stock of meat.
Following the incident, the company disconnected the refrigeration equipment from its Wi-Fi network to prevent further unauthorized access.
The owner said the attack had targeted newer refrigeration units equipped with wireless connectivity. He also claimed that two other businesses had experienced similar incidents, although he believed his own company had been targeted at random.
The Athens and Attica Butchers’ Retailers Association, told newspaper TA NEA that it had received no complaint from any member in Kifisia about such an incident.
The reported breach follows cyberattacks targeting refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets in France and Sweden in recent days. Similar disruptions involving refrigerators and freezers were also reported at U.S. military bases in late August.
There has been no indication that the alleged attack in Kifisia was connected to those incidents.
