From fridges to nuclear power plants, hackers are gaining control
Hackers are breaking into more than computers. They are taking control of the physical machines that have underpinned our lives for decades.
In 2000, a water treatment facility on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland experienced technical issues, leading to the release of over 800,000 liters of untreated sewage into local waterways. This marked the first known instance of operational technology (OT) hacking in the world, a case that has since become a critical study for engineers, academics and governments.
OT refers to hardware and software that control physical machines, and it is used to operate major infrastructures such as power plants, traffic lights, air traffic control systems, and water treatment plants. OT hacking has been on the rise for the past 26 years, and recent events suggest it may be further amplified by artificial intelligence (AI).
Recent instances include hackers remotely adjusting fridge and freezer temperatures of French supermarkets, a cyber attack on 30 U.S. water systems attributed to an Iranian-backed hacking group, and a cyber incident at Australia's second-largest raw sugar producer, causing production shutdowns. Additionally, the Handala Hack group, believed to be under Iranian government control, claimed responsibility for attacks against medical equipment supplier Stryker and US hospitals, potentially putting Australian hospitals at risk due to the global interconnectedness of systems.
The Stryker attack was said to be in retaliation for an Iranian bombing of an elementary school in southern Iran.
The threat of OT hacking extends to critical infrastructure, such as nuclear power plants. In 2025, hackers from China breached over 400 agencies globally via Microsoft's SharePoint, including the US National Nuclear Security Administration. Although not an OT attack, this breach could lead to OT hacking in the future, potentially causing disastrous humanitarian consequences.
One protection against such disasters is an air gap between administrative and operating systems, but even this is not entirely secure due to digital upgrades, remote monitoring, and connected devices.
Cybersecurity expert Ryan Ko pointed out that the vulnerability of OT infrastructure stems from the outdated legacy systems installed 20 to 30 years ago, which have now been connected to the internet. With the rise of AI, the scope of cyber-attacks has drastically changed, making it easier for adversaries to detect previously unknown vulnerabilities.
The OpenAI rogue agent Medicare data portal hack demonstrated how AI can efficiently uncover weaknesses, raising alarms for the Australian government and highlighting the potential for AI to be exploited by malicious actors.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
