Recently, cybercriminals hacked hundreds of supermarket refrigerators and freezers across Europe, including Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, and Spain.
Hackers were able to quickly raise temperatures in connected and allegedly monitored freezer and refrigeration systems to as high as 50°C (122°F) for six hours. These cyberattacks spoiled food and even caused fires. In France alone, that could mean losing "tens of millions of euros" in one day.
Reuters reported the aftermath in European cyberattacked supermarkets:
All affected food had been discarded to eliminate health risks.
Staff throwing cartfuls of defrosted frozen foods into a giant trash container.
Molten ice cream sloshing out of broken tubs on the street.
Affected aisles of Internet-connected freezer and refrigeration units in supermarkets were running outdated firmware. Christel Delberghe, director general at European retail association Eurocommerce, said, "This incident underlines the importance of resilience across the entire supply chain."
Cold Chains Need Built-In Cyber-Resiliency
Monnit customers can rest assured that the company offers layered cybersecurity for its Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. Cyber-resiliency is paramount to how our temperature sensors operate and deliver critical cold chain data locally and over the Internet.
Equipment and data security, plus reliable connectivity, are essential to cold chain traceability and EN12830 compliance, whether in a grocery store freezer and refrigerator system, warehouse cold storage, or on the go in a refrigerated truck.
Monnit Cold Chain Monitoring Solutions with firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updates can make a smart freezer even smarter. Our sensors create secure redundancy to prevent your freezer and refrigeration systems from being hacked.
Secure monitoring doesn't replace securing refrigeration controls, updating firmware, or maintaining network protections. It adds another important layer, comprising independent temperature monitoring, reliable records, and alerts that help teams respond when conditions change unexpectedly. If a connected refrigeration system is compromised, a separate monitoring layer can help reveal the consequences before a temperature excursion becomes a much larger loss.
Detect Temperature Problems Before They Become Costly Disasters
Cold chain failures can quickly lead to spoiled inventory, product-safety concerns, regulatory headaches, and costly downtime. Monnit ALTA® Wireless Temperature Sensors continuously monitor conditions and log readings, helping businesses identify temperature deviations and respond promptly.
Continuous temperature monitoring: Track refrigerated and frozen environments across stores, warehouses, storage facilities, and transportation operations.
Configurable alerts: Notify designated personnel when temperatures exceed established limits so that teams can investigate potential equipment failures or unexpected changes.
Temperature data logging: Maintain historical records to support traceability, reviews, and compliance efforts.
Remote visibility: Access monitoring information through iMonnit™ Software without needing to be physically present at every freezer, refrigerator, or storage location.
With timely alerts and independent temperature records, staff can investigate suspicious readings, assess potentially affected products, and take appropriate action. Monitoring cannot guarantee food will never spoil, but it can reduce how long a temperature problem goes unnoticed.
Meet EN 12830 Cold Chain Traceability Requirements
For businesses handling temperature-sensitive food and pharmaceutical products, monitoring is about more than avoiding waste. It also demonstrates that products were stored and transported under appropriate conditions.
Monnit ALTA Wireless Standard Enterprise and Industrial Temperature Sensors are certified for Europe's EN 12830 cold chain traceability standard. The standard addresses temperature monitoring and data logging during the transportation, storage, and distribution of temperature-sensitive goods.
When paired with ALTA IoT Gateways and iMonnit Software, data-logging ALTA Temperature Sensors help businesses record, review, and verify conditions throughout cold chain operations.
According to the sensors' EN 12830 certification, relevant capabilities include:
Class 0.5 accuracy of ±0.5°C from -40°C to 50°C.
Class 1.0 accuracy of ±1°C from 50.1°C to 85°C.
Data-logging integrity, traceability, and software data-security requirements.
Autonomous operation and an independent power supply.
For businesses handling temperature-sensitive food, pharmaceuticals, and other perishable goods, cold chain monitoring must do more than measure temperature. Companies also need dependable records they can access, verify, and trust.
EN 12830:2018: Temperature recorders for the transport, storage and distribution of temperature-sensitive goods. Tests performance and suitability; addresses the technical and functional performance of temperature-recording systems. It covers systems used across a temperature range of -80°C to 85°C and includes requirements for measurement performance, data handling, software, and system reliability.
The 2018 revision strengthened the standard's requirements to protect recorded information against manipulation and expanded software verification and testing provisions. These requirements matter because compromised temperature records can undermine a company's ability to determine whether products remained within acceptable conditions.
Five Important Data-Integrity and Security Considerations
EN 12830:2018 addresses several safeguards intended to help preserve the reliability and usability of temperature records:
Protection against data manipulation: Systems must prevent or detect intentional and unintentional manipulation of relevant data while it is being managed, stored, or transmitted. This helps preserve the integrity of temperature readings and associated information.
Traceability of changes: Audit trails can record security-relevant activities and changes. The standard also protects relevant data and parameters that affect interpretation, helping organizations investigate discrepancies and determine what happened.
Controlled access: Critical software functions must be protected against unauthorized access through user verification and access restrictions. User management and defined permissions help limit who can change important settings.
Accessible, readable records: Relevant data must be available to authorized users in a form they can readily understand. This supports inspections, audits, investigations, and routine verification of cold chain conditions.
Software verification and reliability: The standard expands software testing and verification requirements. It also addresses operational considerations such as timing accuracy, power interruptions, and preserving recorded information.
These safeguards serve a purpose beyond documentation. If refrigeration controls are compromised or a temperature excursion occurs, reliable, accessible monitoring records help businesses investigate the incident, assess potentially affected products, and determine appropriate next steps.
An important distinction: EN 12830:2018 certification does not, by itself, establish that an entire refrigeration installation is immune to cyberattacks. Nor does the standard prescribe one universal encryption method. Compliance depends on the applicable recording system and its configuration. Monnit's layered security features complement broader cybersecurity practices, including firmware maintenance, secure access controls, and protection of refrigeration control networks.
For cold chain operators, the goal is to protect both the products and the evidence of their condition. Combining appropriate temperature-recording equipment with layered cybersecurity and timely alerts helps businesses strengthen traceability, respond faster to problems, and reduce the risk that a technical or security incident becomes a costly loss.
How We Protect Cold Chain Data
Monnit ALTA® Wireless Standard Enterprise and Industrial Temperature Sensors are certified for EN 12830 cold chain traceability applications. When paired with ALTA IoT Gateways and iMonnit monitoring software, they help organizations record, review, and verify temperature conditions throughout storage, transportation, and distribution.
Monnit also incorporates security measures into its monitoring architecture, including:
Encrypt-RF™ wireless security: A 256-bit key exchange establishes unique keys, while Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128-bit encryption protects sensor messages.
Gateway security: Purpose-specific embedded architecture helps reduce exposure to unnecessary services and interfaces.
Protected software access: iMonnit supports two-factor authentication, while its application programming interface uses Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.2) with 256-bit encryption.
Optional data authentication: SensorPrints™ adds a layer of message authentication for supported ALTA Wireless Sensors, helping verify the origin and integrity of sensor data.
On-premises deployment: iMonnit Enterprise allows organizations with strict data-handling requirements to host and maintain sensor data within their own environments.
Together, these features help protect monitoring data as it travels from sensors to gateways and software, while temperature logging and alerts give teams greater visibility into changing conditions.
Security That Protects Data from Sensor to Software
A temperature reading is only useful if businesses can trust the data and the system delivering it. Monnit builds security into multiple parts of its ALTA Wireless Monitoring Architecture, helping protect communications between sensors, gateways, and software.
Encrypt-RF Wireless Security
Monnit's proprietary Encrypt-RF security protocol uses a 256-bit key exchange to establish unique keys and Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128-bit encryption for data messages. These security measures protect communications between ALTA Sensors and Gateways, including safeguards to detect packet tampering and defend against spoofing and replay of wireless messages.
The proprietary, low-power radio protocol also uses specialized communications rather than relying on commonly used open wireless protocols. This helps create a distinct communication layer for sensor data.
Hardened ALTA Gateways
Gateways are a critical connection point in any IoT deployment. Monnit ALTA Gateways use a purpose-built embedded system rather than a general-purpose operating system, reducing the attack surface by removing unnecessary services and interfaces. Their architecture helps prevent unauthorized access to stored sensor data and reduces the risk of a gateway being used to relay malicious activity.
iMonnit Software Security
Our iMonnit Software portfolio brings sensor configuration, temperature trends, and alerts together in one monitoring environment. Its security features include:
Two-factor authentication (2FA) for user access through the iMonnit interface.
Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.2) with 256-bit encryption for data exchanged through its application programming interface (API).
Secure data handling to help protect monitoring information as it moves between devices and software.
For organizations that cannot send sensitive data to an external cloud service because of security policies or regulatory requirements, iMonnit Enterprise offers an on-premises option. Organizations can host and maintain their sensor data within their own environment while using the platform's monitoring capabilities.
Add Another Layer of Data Authentication
For applications requiring additional assurance that readings originate from trusted devices and have not been altered, Monnit offers SensorPrints™ as an optional data-authentication solution for ALTA Wireless Sensors.
SensorPrints assigns a unique digital fingerprint to each supported device and authenticates sensor messages using 256-bit Secure Hash Algorithm 3 (SHA-3). By validating messages at generation and consumption, it adds another layer of confidence in the integrity and origin of sensor data.
This is especially valuable when cold chain records support product-quality investigations, audits, and operational decisions. Securely authenticated information helps teams trust the readings they use to evaluate storage conditions and investigate potential incidents.
Build Resilience into Every Link of the Cold Chain
Recent European attacks remind us that connected refrigeration equipment needs up-to-date firmware, strong access controls, and sound redundant cybersecurity practices. They also show why businesses shouldn't rely solely on the control systems they are trying to protect to alert them when something goes wrong.
Monnit's Secure Cold Chain Monitoring Solutions add an independent layer of visibility through encrypted sensor communications, secure gateways, protected software access, temperature alerts, and traceable data logging. From supermarket freezers to pharmaceutical storage and refrigerated transportation, businesses can better understand temperature conditions and respond when readings move outside acceptable limits.
Cybersecurity isn't a single product feature or a one-time fix. It's a layered strategy that combines secure equipment, responsible maintenance, reliable monitoring, and timely action. With Monnit, you can strengthen cold chain visibility, support traceability, and help protect valuable inventory before a temperature issue turns into a costly crisis.
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