London – Cyber attacks on Grocery store refrigeration systems across Europe sent temperatures soaring on Monday, spoiling food and causing significant financial losses in the second such incident in less than a month. In October there were hundreds of French shops targeted in a similar attack that sent temperatures in some units to 122 ° Fahrenheit, destroying a huge amount of food.
On Wednesday, France’s health service said the country’s national emergency blood supply network was as well compromised by hackers this week, although alarm and backup systems prevented the cold storage facilities from shutting down, and no supply was lost.
The incidents have renewed wider concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and the growing Risks of internet-connected consumer “smart” technology. It is not only essential systems such as power grids, health databases and grocery chain refrigerators that can have multiple layers of security and redundancy built in, but everyday devices that are now connected to the Internet.
The concern among some experts is that devices touted as a time-saving convenience for consumers also create potential entry points for hackers.
CBS News spoke with several cybersecurity experts who warned that similar vulnerabilities to those exploited in the grocery store hacks could exist in our homes. From heating systems and smart TVs to security cameras, door locks and ovens, millions of household devices are now online.
How vulnerable are our homes?
“Our homes can be more vulnerable than many people think. Smart refrigerators, TVs, cameras and locks are small computers connected to the Internet, and like all computers they can have weaknesses,” Dr. Manny Niri, a cybersecurity lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, told CBS News.
“Often the problem is simple: default or reused passwords, old software or accounts with weak security,” he said.
Professor George Loukas, head of the Center for Sustainable Cyber Security at the University of Greenwich, said vulnerabilities in some mass-produced devices could potentially expose millions of households at once.
“One mistake in a popular model opens the door for every home that owns it,” he said.
What could hackers actually do?
The consequences could extend beyond hackers simply turning a device on or off to “anything the device is already allowed to do,” Loukas said.
“If an app can turn off your heating, open your door or turn off your camera, so can a hacker. The physical damage comes from using the system as designed, just with malicious intent and controlled by someone other than you,” he said.
“Unauthorized access to a camera or microphone could reveal when people are at home, what they are doing and possibly their conversations,” Niri said. “A compromised device can sometimes give hackers access to other devices on the same network, potentially exposing personal or financial information. There can also be physical consequences, for example changing a fridge temperature, disrupting an alarm system or opening a smart lock.”
In 2025, US cybersecurity officials identified a critical vulnerability in certain WiFi thermostats that would allow hackers to gain full administrative control of the units. Meanwhile, the US Federal Trade Commission documents cases with Ring security cameras in it Hackers gained access to accounts and use cameras to spy on and harass homeowners.
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“A compromised device can sometimes give hackers access to other devices on the same network, potentially exposing personal or financial information,” he said.
Could millions of homes be hacked at once?
Experts say the bigger threat may not be hackers targeting individual homes, but exploiting vulnerabilities in millions of identical devices.
In 2016, the Mirai malware Infecting hundreds of thousands of Internet-connected devices, including household routers and security cameras, it transforms them into a network capable of launching large-scale cyberattacks.
Artificial intelligence could make attacks like that significantly easier, Loukas told CBS News.
“With AI, an attack that once required a skilled team to work for weeks can now be directed by one person,” Loukas warned. “This lowers the bar for who can cause disruption at scale.”
“When millions of homes rely on the same device, a single failure becomes everyone’s problem,” he added.
How concerned should we be?
The experts who spoke to CBS News emphasize that ordinary, single households are unlikely to be deliberately targeted.
“I suggest awareness, not fear,” Niri said, adding a warning that “comfort has a cost. Before buying a smart device, we should ask: ‘Do I really need this to be online, and what happens if it’s hacked?’
He recommended changing the default password on all devices, enabling two-factor authentication on those that allow it, regularly updating software and retaining manual control over essential systems.