Summary
Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Department of Transportation (DoT)—hereafter referred to as “the authoring organizations”—are aware of malicious cyber activity targeting industrial refrigeration and cold chain monitoring systems globally. Organizations in the Healthcare and Public Health, Chemical, Food and Agriculture, and Transportation Systems Sectors widely use these systems, including in refrigerated transport services, for automated and remote monitoring of temperatures, continuous temperature logging, defrost cycle management, and energy optimization. The authoring organizations urge owners and operators to defend against this activity by using strong authentication, keeping systems updated, identifying any systems that are accessible from the internet, removing unnecessary remote access, and securing any necessary remote access. The authoring organizations are aware of malicious cyber actors targeting electronic temperature controllers and commercial refrigeration controllers in retail grocery and cold storage facilities.