Connected devices keep failing, and the fix is to unplug

Supermarket freezers, fridges and chiller cabinets across Europe were hit by a second suspected cyber-attack. Attackers remotely pushed temperatures from as low as -27C to over 50C. Retailers named include Intermarché, Coopérative U, Carrefour, Leclerc and Monoprix, with reports from Belgium, Sweden and Ireland. Commenters asked whether insurance will pay and noted it would be negligent to expose this equipment to the internet.

The TV privacy thread has the same instinct from the consumer side. Nearly every answer to 'which TV for privacy?' was 'none': buy any TV, never connect it to a network, and use an Apple TV or Jellyfin box. Some root their LG and put it on an isolated VLAN. The old FCC commissioner thread on IoT security labeling is back in the mix. Related: the 60-second power grid fluctuation was traced to synchronized UPS self-tests, a reminder that fleets of connected machines can create shared failures nobody planned for.

The counterpoint is that people are skeptical regulation fixes it, and open-source advocates want the right to install their own firmware.