Cyberattacks Manipulate Refrigeration Controls at UK Food Suppliers

Cyberattacks targeting internet-connected refrigeration controls have affected a small number of UK food suppliers, including meat processors and London fruit and vegetable wholesaler Langridge Organic, following similar incidents in Europe. Langridge said attackers compromised six of its 10 cold-room controllers, triggered defrost cycles with maximum temperatures set to 150°F, and disabled automated temperature warnings. Staff detected the changes through manual checks and disconnected the controls from the internet; no stock was lost. Other affected UK suppliers also reported no stock losses. The National Cyber Security Centre described the national impact as minimal and said no UK grocery chain had been directly affected.

The incidents involved control systems from Copeland and Danfoss, with reported security weaknesses including legacy equipment exposed online and default passwords. Security firm Lupovis recorded 256 attack attempts against simulated Danfoss controllers and identified infrastructure overlaps with previously observed Russian-linked operations, but neither researchers nor the NCSC established responsibility for the attacks. The incidents underscore the need to restrict internet access to refrigeration controllers, replace default credentials, apply available patches, and retain independent temperature checks, particularly because attackers can disable the same automated alerts intended to detect unsafe conditions.