Greek butcher shop reports cyberattack targeting refrigeration systems

A butcher shop in the Kifisia district of Athens was reportedly targeted in a cyberattack, with hackers allegedly gaining access to its refrigeration control system and setting the temperature to 150C (302F), Greek media reported Tuesday.

The incident was reported by the shop's owner, Giorgos Boumpas, who said employees discovered the problem when they arrived early in the morning, according to the daily Capital.

Initially believing the refrigerators had malfunctioned, employees called a refrigeration technician, who eventually determined that the systems had been hacked.

"They had set the refrigerators to 150 degrees Celsius; we could not manually intervene as we could not access the system," Boumpas said, adding that the technician managed to regain control after two hours.

He said the technician had also informed them of similar incidents at two other businesses in the area.

Boumpas added that the affected businesses, including his own, worked with a third-party refrigeration company for security purposes.

He said older refrigeration motors were not affected, while newer models equipped with wireless network connections were vulnerable.

The shop subsequently disabled its Wi-Fi connection, while a technician was expected to consider a permanent solution, he added.