Discussion
RE: https://mastodon.social/@PCMag/117547400907674732
Why is your fridge networked 
For a second time, hackers target European grocery stores again, switching the freezer to defrost: https://www.pcmag.com/news/hackers-target-european-grocery-stores-again-switch-freezers-to-defrost
@Gargron
medical fridges often have alarms that SMS when temps get out of range, but outgoing traffic only of course
@Gargron we are not talking about consumer fridges. There is a legimit reason for those fridges to be in a Network, integration with logistics, technical support etc.
I highly doubt that those fridges are reachable from the internet. So don't get this wrong. This was not a stupid decision from a lazy company (although there is always room for improvement), this was a highly coordinated sabotage.
If criminals / agents set trucks on fire. I wouldn't ask why the trucks were full with diesel.
@Gargron Because there's a ton of money inside these things, and folks need to be alerted when they go out of temp and be able to make adjustments remotely or they'll lose their shirt.
@Gargron Give me the so-called dumb appliance. I don't want or need my fridge, freezer, stove, microwave, coffee maker, washer or dryer connected to any network. Even my smart TVs are not connected to any network.
@tinker
Incorrect.
"The affected refrigeration controllers by Danfoss each ran a web server reachable over the public internet, many of them accessible using login credentials 'admin' as the username and the current date as the password."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_French_supermarket_refrigerator_hack
@Jer @tinker @Gargron they’re on the Internet because supermarket business are large, span countries (continents, even), and centralised management is efficient. Use an existing global network rather than spinning up your own. It is *far* cheaper. (I used to work in retail networks in the 90s, and saw the move from private networks to the Internet).
The real question should be: why are they so insecure? “Because cost”, is the answer. And now they’re literally paying for it.
@mcslibinas @Gargron @tinker Convenience and cost over security. Same answer as it has been for at least 25 years
It's stupid. They'll spend plenty of money on physical security to catch a shoplifter, but the idea that you'd spend a bit of money for a separate control network to outright prevent a much more costly extortion attack? Nope.
@Gargron Because stupid.
@Gargron I can see one way data for monitoring & alarms being networked, but why would anyone need to control temperatures? Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
They're fridges and freezers. Surely it's: 2°C – set it and forget it, not: "oh Tuesday, let's go to 3°C today, and tomorrow to 1C" or something.
Just asking for problems.
@Gargron all I'm gonna say is that I have the bourgeois version of my appliances and none of them offer the option to connect to the internet. None. IoT will become a class divider and surely a class killer when only the rich have a fridge that refrigerates.
@Gargron "Apologies, our AI agent got out of our control during testing."
@Gargron IoT is the future!
@Gargron "Hey", I said to wife, reading the manual of the new fridge we had bought, "This fridge has wi-fi!".
"Ah!" said wife "we must connect it!"
"Why on earth do a fridge need to be connected to the internet?" I said, "I won't stop anyone from connecting it, but I'm not doing it!"
That fridge stayed offline for all the time we owned it.