Cybercrims go beyond stealing data to attack physical building systems

Late Sunday night, a still-unknown cybercriminal or group hacked thousands of remote-controlled refrigeration systems across hundreds of French grocery stores, spiking temperatures, spoiling food, and sparking fires. This is part of an ongoing trend of attacking physical systems that can do damage in the real world. In August, a ransomware attack disrupted building-management systems at a Canadian hospital, affecting door access controls, central HVAC monitoring, and the issuing of staff access cards. And three years ago, cyberattacks hit Las Vegas casinos, causing slot machines to go dark, preventing payment kiosks and ATMs from spitting out cash, and locking guests out of their rooms when the electronic keys stopped working. Not all digital intrusions remain in cyberspace, and attackers don’t need to encrypt files and steal data to cause chaos. Hitting physical systems often produces more severe consequences - and turns up the heat on executives to pay an extortion demand. …