Apparently, smart refrigerators can be easily coaxed into helping send out hundreds of thousand of malicious emails.

These days smart refrigerators can help you plan meals, alert you to food expiry dates and even tell you what ingredient you’re missing.

Apparently, they can also be easily coaxed into helping send out hundreds of thousands of malicious emails.

In what’s believed to be the first case of refrigerator-assisted malware spreading, hackers commandeered the brain of an Internet enabled smart fridge and used it for nefarious deeds.

The spamming occurred between December 23rd and January 6th. The targets were both businesses and individuals throughout the world.

Based on reports from the security firm Proofpoint, the refrigerator did not act alone.

It was part of a network of over 100 thousand household gadgets that included televisions and multi-media centers, all of which had Internet access.

Experts fear what this means for the future of smart appliances.

As their popularity is increasing, their ability to fight off cyber attacks remains almost non-existent.

Further complicating the issue is that often times they’re not set up properly and default passwords aren’t typically changed.

It’s also hard to tell when one has been compromised; however, even if suspicious behavior is noticed, it can be tough to fix.