Following the cyberattacks on supermarket fridges and freezers across Europe, Dai Vaughan, chief technology officer at digital transformation consultancy Public Digital and co-founder of the UK Government Digital Service (GDS) says businesses need safeguards in place to limit damage.
“Cyberattacks don’t have to bring down computer systems to cause serious damage. As these supermarket attacks show, something as simple as changing the temperature of a freezer can destroy thousands of pounds worth of stock.
“More and more of the equipment we rely on is now connected to the internet, from supermarket fridges to heating systems and factory machinery. That makes it easier to manage, but it also creates new risks if security isn’t properly considered and maintained. The security of these systems has to keep pace with how much we rely on them.
“Businesses may have outsourced the maintenance of their equipment, but they haven’t outsourced responsibility for what happens when it fails. They need to know who can access these systems remotely, how that access is protected and whether an attacker could use it to cause wider disruption.
“Cyberattacks are a question of when, not if. The priority shouldn’t just be keeping hackers out, but stopping an attack on one piece of equipment from spreading to others. If a hacker gets into one freezer, they shouldn’t automatically be able to access every freezer in the supermarket. Businesses need to have safeguards in place to limit the damage, keep essential services running and recover quickly.
