A new cold war: hackers target fridges across the globe

A woman walks past empty fresh-food refrigerators at an Intermarché supermarket in Névez, western France, on Oct. 12, following a cyberattack affecting the French supermarket chains Intermarché and Cooperative U that caused their refrigerators to defrost. Some 150 to 200 Intermarché stores were targeted in the attack on Oct. 12, along with nearly 100 Coopérative U outlets, the retailers said.

NPR investigated cyberattacks on the digital devices that control industrial refrigerators, revealing the extent to which operational technology is exposed to damage and disruption.

(Image credit: Fred Tanneau)