logoalt Hacker News

codingdaveyesterday at 12:06 PM3 repliesview on HN

The author doesn't really claim it was a hack, just that it is a possibility. But they are charging down the path of the potential hack before asking the more obvious question: How many refrigerators exist in the military at all? And of those, how many are having problems?

Because a half dozen a day sounds plausible as standard maintenance issues, as the author acknowledges. If it were a hack, I'd expect something like 50% of them to have problems. But not knowing how many there are, I don't know how significant these incidents really are.


Replies

gwbas1cyesterday at 1:12 PM

They are charging down that path because vulnerabilities that effect the refrigerators were disclosed the same day as 14 refrigerators failed in an absurd way. They all turned on the defrost cycle and heated the food.

The problem is the author should have put a few concise bullet points at the top. (14 freezers failed at the same time. They are all internet-controlled, and failed at the same time as a disclosure about a vulnerability. They all failed by turning on the defrost cycle and heating food.)

I really recommend skimming the article to the end.

(Unfortunately, the article really is so verbose it's a borderline rant.)

odyssey7yesterday at 12:09 PM

Obvious sabotage would be addressed promptly. Subtle sabotage could persist as a minor torment indefinitely.

show 1 reply
ckdarbyyesterday at 12:25 PM

The article has a post that says this happened across 14 bases at the same time.

show 3 replies