Controls have to be put somewhere, and networked interfaces mean fewer physical controls that may be difficult to access, tampered with or fail. Having a standard control protocol means interfaces can be changed and improved without modifying the hardware. They’re not a bad thing.

However, having networked controls exposed on anything other than private, air-gapped, wired-only LANs seems rather foolish, to me.

Speculation to your question, for monitoring and control.

For monitoring, log temperatures and send error message if it gets too high. Data could be used if any legal question come up about food spoilage.

For control, I’m guessing there’s times you want to shut it off or enable/disable defrost. Easier to do that at a computer than have controls that are either a pain inthe ass to get to, or too easy for some moron to mess with.

That being said, it should be on a local network and have no access to the internet. However a chain store would probably want the data sent to HQ, so the computer would need to be on the network.

But you can whittle down your labor costs to a single untrained guy monitoring by notifications in the closet they converted to the IT room.

One can only hope

Because shops don’t want to run hardware on site, so they outsource the hosting of management and monitoring to the cheapest contractor. Unsurprisingly they don’t spend on security.

Because this way the bill of materials, design work, and labor cost are all higher; and that way the company can earn more money!

Capitalism is so far detached from what capitalists pretend it’s like. Wealth distribution is so uneven in the U.S. that there’s extremely little incentive to lower costs, even if the business is worse off because of it.

The main plot of Ghost in the Shell 3. sigh

Given the simplicity of this attack and complete disregard for security by the vendor, it is likely to just be a teenager in a basement somewhere

Please stop with the acts of war or terrorism BS. The article also mentions “in-store pricing powered by electronic shelf labels” so lets not ignore this is about multi-billion companies trying to suck every penny out of our pocket. If these companies design and manufacture and buy stupid hardware that is susceptible to such hacking, they really deserve it. I mean they really do.

Second, this is a good thing. Systems will be hardened now. You think there would be any other fucking way they would upgrade their security unless something like this happens? Beatings will continue until security improves. This is why even chaotic hackers that cause damage and inconvenience are ultimately a positive force on our IT infrastructure. Think of it as an ecosystem and evolutionary pressure. Free marketplace of security models.

The disconnect between how systems “should” be and how they actually are is disappointingly enormous.

Retailers are surprisingly enough just like consumers and want things to “just work” without caring about security.

And so they get Internet-connected fridges, and it’s all fine, until the very moment it isn’t.

I hope this is a learning experience and they beef-up their systems.

Also it’s madness that systems like these are connected directly to the internet without read-only permissions implemented.

Water systems in the US are, too. And they have been hacked.

I’m sure the admins managing this infra did implement strict permissions… Separate vlans are safe until you find a vulnerability in the switch OS, or find a way to access the admins account.

Search YouTube for “Michael Hastings Accident”.

Hackers using AI can absolutely hack into a Tesla and make it do anything they want. I’m surprised they haven’t to the point where it’s major news.

AI is absolutely incredible at finding vectors for arbitrary code execution. It can jump from layer to layer to layer to find an exploit. I want all of my appliances from now on to be dumb and not connected to the internet.

It’s fucking stupid, you don’t use the manufacturer’s systems for that, or you’ll need one system for the fridges, one for the ovens, one for the lighting… You’re supposed to connect them all to YOUR control system, over isolated VLAN/LANs and then secure your system only.

Perhaps that’s how the fridge company keeps you paying for the service. Allowing you to set temps, time defrost is all operational. You can do power saving and make sure that defrosts only happen during the store’s downtime. You could also isolate a screwed up unit, have the store unstock it and shut it down until maintenance can come out to repair it.

You need that if you want to let managers remotely control settings via mobile apps.

Next time, the manufacturer will learn to use a local-only protocol like Matter.

Probably fof some remote control BS. My wife was really keen on being able to set up þe slow cooker and turn it on remotely while she was at work. I don’t understand þe appeal, but I’ve stopped trying to guess at why stuff appeals to people.

Also, when I bought our last dishwasher it came wiþ some features I only got because þe model got good reviews and I couldn’t get a version wiþout þem. One of þe ones I þought would be useless was an interior light þat illuminates it when þe door is opened. A year in, it was my favorite feature, and next dishwasher I buy is going to have it too. But when I was shopping, I could have cared less. Turns out, I’m really bad at predicting what features I’m going to like.

I wonder how much money was saved by having someone manage the freezer section, or how much money was earned by not having an empty fridge.