Fridge hacks and finance attacks flag AI insecurity

Hacking supermarket refrigerators may sound trivial. It’s not. It’s a warning of the economic disruption AI could wreak in an increasingly vulnerable world.

In the past few days alone, unknown criminal groups or state actors have been responsible for the biggest cyber theft in history, the hacking of Ukraine’s air defense alert systems and the overnight shutdown of supermarket freezers across Europe.

Attempted breaches of encrypted financial accounts along with economic and military sabotage have become almost routine. Some industry estimates put the global cost at trillions of dollars as financial sector targets increase.