U.S. government agencies have warned that threat actors are actively targeting industrial refrigeration and cold-chain monitoring systems globally with an aim to cause service disruptions, fire hazards, and loss of inventory.

"The actors may exploit vulnerabilities or weaknesses in unpatched or internet-accessible controllers to remotely alter settings and force units into continuous heating and defrost cycles, which can cause widespread inventory loss and equipment hazards," according to a joint advisory.

According to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Department of Transportation (DOT), threat actors are likely to exploit authentication bypasses, arbitrary code injection, and weak configurations to gain access to these systems and cause the following effects -

In response to the threat, owners and operators are being urged to use strong authentication, keep systems updated, identify any systems that are accessible from the internet, isolate operational technology (OT) devices, change default passwords, retire and replace legacy devices, remove unnecessary remote access, and secure necessary remote access.

"Industrial refrigeration and cold-chain monitoring systems protect food, medicine, and other temperature-sensitive products, making them attractive targets for malicious cyber actors," said FBI Cyber Branch Operations Director Brett Leatherman.

"We are seeing these systems targeted across critical infrastructure sectors globally, putting inventory and equipment at risk."

In recent weeks, threat actors have targeted hundreds of supermarkets across Europe by exploiting weaknesses in internet-accessible refrigeration controllers to raise temperatures, in some cases to as high as 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), or force cooling units into defrost mode, spoiling food and resulting in financial losses.

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