Especially after the first one.

Internet connected can be useful in commercial environments. When designed properly it isn't a issue unless someone is really motivated.

The problem is the lack of a Firewall and network partitioning. The vendor was extremely sloppy in the design and security configuration which made it trivial to attack.

I hope they aren't, and we're seeing the failure of securing the network they're on.

Companies I've worked for keep different stuff on different networks, and to manage those things you either have to physically be connected to that network, or go through some kind of portal (secured with it's own credentials) then have credentials for the management systems.

I'd bet all the attacked systems are on a fairly flat network, and the control systems (servers and management devices) are poorly secured with minimal credential policies.

It's exactly 50°C, which probably means that the figure in the article was converted to fahrenheit by the author.

Supermarkets allow their freezers to connect to the internet so that maintenance and monitoring can occur remotely.

Nit: it doesn't beg the question (a logical fallacy also known as tautology), it raises it.

But yeah, is it really that helpful to network something you only want to set one time?

Exactly! It should have a single non-internet connected computer per supermarket controlling the temps.

once again begs the question

Nope. Just raises it.

Really, this is worth just 5 minutes of research. This is not like the stupid Samsung fridge you keep in your home. In commercial settings you may have hundreds of refrigeration units to track and manage in order to keep food safe. And it’s quite plainly very efficient to do this with remote management software, and yes this can be deployed locally with a local server to manage everything but it can also be done over the internet to cloud services and that can be much more feasible for someone who is trying to run a grocery and isn’t a network engineer or experienced server administrator.

I know someone will just say come on, it’s not that hard. To which I say fine, but the question here was why would anyone ever do this. There is actually an answer.

Regarding the heat up thing, usually the devices sold are dual purpose and can be used to keep things warm (Since they're just a insulated container with a temperature coil), but the connected to the internet part is just stupidity.

The coils need to defrost, so they are able to heat up to do so. Typically this happens for a very short period of time. Bit if the defrost cycle stays on for an extended period of time then the whole thing heats up.

Sounds like this guy thinks we should connect more freezers.

Yes. But in the meantime this guy is costing working class in food prices.

So they can get security updates.

Why do they need secutity updates?

Because they are connected to the internet.

Because the 20th Century was too boring.

They do it to minimize having to send out maintainance for problems that can be fixed remotely, as theres a cost and time attached to said action.

Having the ability to monitor temperature remotely is useful.

However at that point the system should alert a staff member in the store to a potential issue so they can physically check.

If they had even the slightest rumour that it was Russia then it would be plastered all across news in Europe

You have to speak louder. They're a little def in that ear.

You have to speak louder for them to hear you from across the ocean

But you can't just disconnect a refrigerator from the Internet! You have to let it warm up first 😬

Also why do people buy battery operated automated soap dispensers for their home bathrooms? How much of an inconvenience is it to pump soap into your hand? You don't have to worry about the soap pump being sanitary either because you have soap on your hands to wash everything off.