A recent cyber attack affecting refrigeration systems in French supermarkets has highlighted a growing threat facing businesses worldwide, the increasing vulnerability of connected technology. What was once a problem reserved for servers and office computers is now impacting everyday operational equipment, from fridges and freezers to security systems and building controls.

For supermarkets, refrigeration is critical infrastructure. Temperature-controlled storage protects food quality, ensures compliance with health regulations and prevents significant financial losses from spoiled stock.

The reported attack on refrigeration systems in French stores shows that cybercriminals are increasingly targeting operational technology (OT), rather than just traditional IT networks. When connected devices are compromised, the consequences can quickly move beyond data loss and into real-world business disruption.

The Rise of Connected Retail

Modern retailers rely on a vast network of connected devices to keep operations running efficiently. Refrigeration systems can automatically monitor temperatures, alert maintenance teams to faults and optimise energy consumption, helping to reduce waste while improving both efficiency and the customer experience.

However, the same connectivity that delivers these benefits can also create new vulnerabilities. Every connected device represents a potential entry point for cybercriminals if it is not properly secured.

However, every connected device represents a potential entry point for attackers if security measures are not adequately maintained. As retailers continue to embrace digital transformation, cybersecurity must become an integral part of operational planning rather than an afterthought.

The impact of the attack was significant. French supermarket chain Intermarché reported that refrigeration units reached temperatures as high as 50°C remaining for around for up to six hours overnight. As a precaution, stores disposed of all affected food to eliminate any potential health risks.

Managers arriving at stores on Monday morning were reportedly met with a wave of hot air coming from freezers and refrigeration units. In some locations, the overheating equipment even caused small fires.

The financial impact was immediate. Two supermarkets in the Alsace region alone are reported to have suffered losses of around €270,000, suggesting the total cost across affected stores nationwide could run into the millions. Beyond the direct loss of stock, the incident demonstrates how cyber attacks on operational technology can quickly translate into major operational and financial disruption.

Beyond Data Breaches

Cybersecurity discussions often focus on stolen customer data or ransomware attacks that lock users out of computer systems. Incidents involving physical infrastructure demonstrate a broader reality.

A successful attack on operational technology can result in:

• Product spoilage and inventory losses
• Store disruptions and reduced trading capacity
• Increased maintenance and recovery costs
• Damage to brand reputation
• Regulatory and compliance challenges
• Risks to customer trust and safety

For sectors such as retail, hospitality, healthcare and logistics, these risks can have immediate financial consequences.

As organisations continue to adopt connected technology, cybersecurity needs to be considered from the start, not added later. Every connected device should be treated as part of the organisation’s security landscape. That means keeping systems updated, monitoring for unusual activity and ensuring critical operational technology is protected just as carefully as traditional IT systems.

It’s easy to think of cybersecurity as something that only affects computers and data. When a cyber attack can potentially impact something as ordinary as a supermarket fridge, it highlights just how interconnected modern businesses have become. The challenge isn’t simply protecting information anymore. It’s protecting the technology that keeps the business running in the first place.

With cyber threats continuing to rise the UK Government is actively encouraging businesses to achieve Cyber Essentials certification to help protect themselves, their customers, and their data.

Cyber Essentials is a 72-question self-assessment designed to ensure your organisation has the fundamental security controls in place to defend against common cyber attacks. It also helps demonstrate that your business can recover quickly and continue operating should the worst happen.

While it’s alarming that 43% of UK SMEs experienced a cyber attack in 2025, what’s even more concerning is that 1 in 5 businesses would struggle to remain operational six months later.

The Cyber Essentials process may seem straightforward, but there is very little room for error. Once your assessment is submitted, you have just two working days to resolve any failed responses or outstanding issues before you’ll need to pay and reapply. For many businesses, that’s a challenging timeframe. Addressing compliance gaps often involves coordinating with third-party suppliers, updating systems, reviewing policies, or even upgrading equipment, all of which can take far longer than 48 hours.

That’s where SCG’s Cyber Essentials as a Service (CEaaS) comes in.

Rather than submitting your assessment and hoping for the best, we work with you beforehand to review your responses, identify potential compliance issues, and ensure you’re fully prepared before submission. This proactive approach significantly increases the likelihood of passing first time, saving you both time and money.

Don’t leave your certification to chance. Partner with SCG and achieve Cyber Essentials with confidence.

Email remains one of the most widely used business communication tools, but it was never designed with modern cyber threats in mind. As a result, cybercriminals can often impersonate trusted organisations, putting businesses and customers at risk.

DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) helps organisations secure their outbound email domains and prevent email spoofing.

The Risks of Unprotected Email

Without proper protections, attackers can:

• Send emails that appear to come from your organisation
• Intercept and alter email content, such as invoice payment details
• Distribute ransomware using trusted identities
• Damage your reputation and customer trust
• Cause significant financial losses

What is DMARC?

DMARC is an email authentication tool that helps organisations prevent unauthorised use of their domain. It also provides visibility into who is sending email on behalf of your business.

DMARC also improves email deliverability and helps ensure legitimate emails reach customer inboxes rather than spam folders. Email impersonation remains one of the simplest and most effective attack methods used by cybercriminals. Implementing DMARC is a crucial step in protecting your brand, customers and employees from fraud while improving trust in your email communications.

The latest entrant to the Samsung Enterprise range is the Samsung Galaxy A17 5G.

Designed for cost-conscious organisations with a need for security and control, it’s a feature-packed handset built for business.

Features including an ultra immersive 6.7” Super AMOLED display, a triple lens camera featuring a 50MP lens, and 5G speeds set it up with more premium devices, but at a budget price point.  add the extra Enterprise benefits of an extended 3yr warranty and 7 years of security and maintenance releases ensures your devices stay secure throughout their lifecycle. 

Being an Enterprise device, the handsets can also be delivered ‘white glove’ meaning your staff just need a username and password to login and go, with no physical intervention required before delivery via setup with your chosen MDM service.

As cyberattacks become increasingly sophisticated, organisations are turning to automated penetration testing to proactively identify and address security weaknesses.

While frameworks such as Cyber Essentials provide a strong foundation for cyber security through baseline security controls, penetration testing (pentesting) goes a step further. It actively assesses an organisation’s security posture by identifying and attempting to exploit weaknesses within a network, providing a more realistic view of potential risks.

Traditionally, penetration testing has been a manual and often costly process, making it difficult for many small and medium-sized businesses to undertake regularly. SCGs automated approach helps overcome these barriers by reducing costs, accelerating testing, and enabling organisations to assess their environments more frequently. Tests can be completed within hours, with validated results typically delivered within a week.

To help businesses understand their security posture, organisations can begin with a free network health check. Where vulnerabilities are identified, they receive actionable recommendations to improve security, reduce risk, and strengthen their overall cyber defences.

As cyber threats continue to evolve, regular penetration testing enables organisations to move beyond compliance-focused security and take a more proactive approach to identifying and mitigating risks before they become serious issues.

Many organisations use Microsoft 365 but are often unclear about the difference between OneDrive and SharePoint.

• OneDrive is designed for personal file storage, giving employees a private space to save and access their own documents.
• SharePoint is a centralised platform built for team and organisation-wide collaboration, allowing users to securely share, manage, and work on documents together.

However, many businesses struggle to get the most from SharePoint. Common challenges include duplicate documents, inconsistent folder structures, and a lack of user understanding around SharePoint’s capabilities. Without proper governance, these issues can impact productivity and create security risks.

A successful SharePoint environment typically follows a four-stage approach:

1. Discovery and business requirements – understanding how the organisation works and what it needs from SharePoint
2. Information architecture and environment build – creating a logical structure for sites, libraries, and content
3. Permissions and security configuration – ensuring the right people have access to the right information
4. User training and adoption support – helping employees confidently use the platform and maximise its benefits

SharePoint should not be viewed as a one-time implementation. Ongoing management is essential to maintain a secure, organised, and efficient environment. This includes user support, governance reviews, permission management, and continuous optimisation. Many organisations also benefit from quarterly permission reporting, providing visibility over access rights as teams and business requirements change.

In recent years, the efficiency of ‘eSIMs’ has gained increasing popularity. Whether you’d like to use the same device for both your personal and work phone numbers, or would like an international number as well as your UK one – an eSIM is a worthy option to look into and has many benefits.

Check out this article below by Forbes, detailing the ins and outs of this great piece of technology. 

What is an eSIM?

As of the latest update from O2 in August of this year, the current devices which are compatible with eSIMs are;

• iPhone: XS Max, XS, XR, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max and SE 2020
• Samsung Galaxy: S20 4G, S20 5G, S20 5G Plus, S20 Ultra 5G and Z Flip
• Google Pixel: 3 and 3 XL

Contact your Account Manager today to find out more about the eSIMs we can provide you with.

SCG and the Customer Experience

We are proud to announce that we have recently achieved a 4.9* rating on Trust Pilot – something that we are incredibly pleased with. We pride ourselves on providing unparalleled customer service to everyone we work with, to provide bespoke connectivity solutions depending on individual business needs.
If there is anything else you think we can help you out with or would like us to take a look at, please don’t hesitate to contact your Account Manager today on 03456 200 200.

WHAT is The Great British Switch Off?

The UK’s current telephone system is made up of voice lines, so currently even if you only wish to install internet, you will also have to have a voice line installed. Also known as the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), this current services has been around for over 140 years and consists of millions of miles of copper wires under the ground – the Coppersaurus.

The Great British Switch Off is the term used to refer to the switch from the relic that is a voice-based system, to full-fibre broadband.

To do so, Openreach will remove the the voice element of the network, replace it with fibre and finally switch off the PSTN.

This will revolutionalise the way in which we communicate and allow us to move forward and progress from a technological point of view.

WHY is it happening?

Simply put, the copper service (PSTN) which once thrived can now no longer keep up with the growing demand of data and is becoming obsolete.

Benefits of the new network;

• More Reliable
• Faster Connection
• Less interference so higher signal strength
• Quicker installation
• Supports more devices being connected

WHEN is it happening?

It has already started!

In December 2020, the first ‘Stop-Sell’ notification was sent out in Salisbury from Openreach, meaning they would no longer accomodate for or sell voice lines (copper) – therefore a switch to fibre was required.

In June 2021, lots of other areas in the UK also received the Stop-Sell notification and from now until September 2023, Openreach will be sending them out at a rapid rate until finally the switch is nationwide. Keep an eye out for your areas’ Stop-Sell being sent out as this will be an important date to work towards.

HOW will this affect you?

Getting the new network in operation well in time for your areas Stop-Sell is imperative to business continuity. It is anticipated that telecoms companies will experience a huge rush of orders in the months leading up to the nationwide switch off, so there will be a running risk of having to wait for installation and therefore be without internet for a period of time. Don’t get left behind!

WHAT are the solutions?

The change to fibre eliminates the voice element of the network. This means that people and businesses will no longer be able to make a call the traditional way and will have to equip themselves with Voice over IP (VoIP) telephone systems.

Voice over IP is part of the next generation technologies that allow you to place a phone call over the internet.

There are two main VoIP systems:

• Hosted: It is a phone system housed in the cloud, rather than in your office.
• SIP trunk: It is a service that connects your existing on-premise PBX equipment to the internet, thereby eliminating the need for a traditional landline or digital phone services.

Which one will be the best suited to you will depend entirely on your specific business needs, hence the necessity of a thorough assessment of your situation.

As the vaccine rollout gathers pace it’s time for people, and business, to start to think about their post-COVID plans.

We have spoken to many of our clients who have moved to a ‘work from home solution’ about their plans post lockdown and they typically fall into one of three situations:

• Everybody back to the office and business as usual
• A flexible working solution with people working from home and the office
• Closing the office and everyone continuing to work from home

As well as considering the well-being of your staff, any potential social distancing measures you may still need to implement, and how your clients/customers are going to be operating, below outlines some of the things to consider from a telecoms point of view as you plan your post lockdown operations:

Business as Usual

For businesses moving back to the office with plans to be business as usual, its likely everything is in place and ready to go already, however with video calling becoming the way to do business and proving so popular, it is definitely here to stay.

Regardless of whether your staff are back in the office or not, is your office broadband going to cope with 10 staff members all online for a video call at once? Is it time to consider upgrading your broadband ready for post lockdown?

Hybrid Working

For those planning a hybrid solution, is your current office space still fit for purpose? Do you need to down-size? Are your systems in place to communicate with people in and out of the office? If you are looking to relocate, have you considered the broadband and telephony setup when you get there? Private fibre services can take months to get installed, so if you are relocating, now is the time to be looking to make sure services are installed and live ready for your return.

Working From Home Permanently

If you have already decided to work from home it’s likely your systems are already in place to do this and it is just a case of shutting the doors on the office. Have you considered how to keep your business number when you cease your landline services? Or how to keep your staff communicating remotely? Is their home broadband up to speed, and what provision can you put in place to ensure it is?

Regardless of your situation, we can help with all of the above. Whether it be a quick check to advise on broadband options at a shortlist of potential new offices and arranging the move of your landline numbers, or just helping to make sure you’re up to speed at your current office get in touch and we can advise on the options for you.

With the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to take its’ toll on society during our third run of lockdown, some internet users are finding it more difficult than ever to stay connected.

A study from Citizens Advice found that more than a sixth of UK households are struggling to pay broadband bills due to using it so much being at home, and essentially leaving them cut off from the services, and in turn the rest of the world. It was found that ‘Towards the end of last year, an estimated 2.3 million people had fallen behind on their broadband bill’, and this is only set to get worse as large comms providers seem to be overlooking the advice to offer lower tariffs.

Over the last year, millions of brits have been placed on furlough, particularly those within the hospitality and retail industry, and being locked down at home day in day out means that they are already disconnected from friends and family. Many of us have found solace in the ability to host zoom calls and take part in virtual events, but such things cannot be done without a reliable, affordable internet connection.

As the times change and technology becomes a more integral part of our daily lives, it can be seen as one of the most essential services available to society for a number of reasons, and no one should be without.

At SCG, we pride ourselves on providing only the best to our customers at remarkable prices. Please get in touch to find out more about how we can help – we can’t wait to hear from you.

One of the interesting aspects looking back on my ten years in the telecommunications business is that today, the main service that I was working with at the outset is becoming an endangered species…

Back when I first started in the industry, the UK had 10 million landline numbers being used by domestic and commercial premises from Shetland to Lands End, and everywhere in between. Since then we have seen that number dwindle by 35% to just 6.4 million numbers.

Interestingly, the number of landlines has decreased and to boot the number of calls that are made over those landlines has fallen by 50% in that period.

With minutes of calls made over mobile networks increasing from 132 billion in 2012 to 148 billion now, is it any surprise that companies are looking to ditch their traditional phone systems altogether?

There are some great options now in the marketplace to move landline numbers into the Cloud and make use of the ability to take your office phone with you when you leave, using your mobile. If signal is an issue, SCG has you covered with our unique network guarantee.

If you’d like to discuss this or any other aspect of your telecommunications, all you have to do is call our team on 0131 445 2846.