Researchers lure fridge hackers with password 12345

French security researchers who set up fake refrigeration systems online recorded about 20 attempts to break in, including someone trying the password “12345”. Their findings reveal the methods attackers tested the day before about 30 Swedish organisations were hit, SVT reported.

After hackers attacked refrigeration systems at hundreds of French grocery stores in mid-October, the cybersecurity company Sekoia put four fake systems online to attract attackers.

On November 1, the researchers recorded an attempt to exploit a security flaw that could have given an attacker administrator access without a password. The following day, refrigeration systems at about 30 Swedish organisations were attacked.

Sekoia’s analysis found that attackers had changed temperatures, started defrost cycles and altered alarm thresholds to delay detection. The company also identified similarities between the attacks in France and Sweden.

“Yes, the methods of attack are similar. Similar vulnerabilities have been used,” said John Billow, head of Sweden’s National Cybersecurity Centre. In several cases, attackers gained extensive access, he said, allowing them to do anything within the systems.

It is not yet clear how the attackers accessed the Swedish refrigeration systems or who was responsible. France has attributed the attacks there to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. “Analysis is ongoing, but it takes time and it is not always possible to get a complete picture in the end,” Billow said.