French blood service says hackers tampered with freezers

Hackers remotely changed the settings on cold rooms holding donated blood products at three sites run by France's national blood service. It is the latest in a string of attacks on refrigeration systems that has worried officials across Europe. The French Blood Establishment (EFS) said a "cybersecurity incident" at one of its refrigeration contractors on Monday, November 2, hit the monitoring and control systems at the three sites, according to AFP.nampa.org

The EFS said no blood products were lost and patients were not affected. Still, the incident shows how hacking a single supplier's software can reach critical health infrastructure.

Settings raised to 110°C

The EFS said in a statement that "temperature and defrosting thresholds were raised to very high temperatures" in cold rooms that use the provider's system, Le Monde reported. The rooms stored plasma bags meant for transfusions and for making medicines, franceinfo reported. The French weekly Le Canard enchaîné first reported the breach. It said rooms normally kept at -30°C were set to reach 110°C, according to Sud Ouest. The EFS said the rooms never reached that temperature. A technician on duty spotted the problem overnight and stepped in, Euronews reported.franceinfo.fr+3

"Our alarm and monitoring systems allowed us to spot very quickly that the settings had been changed," EFS president Frédéric Pacoud told franceinfo. The affected products were moved to other facilities as a precaution, and blood collection and distribution carried on as usual, Le Parisien reported. France's health minister said there had been "no impact on public health," according to la Repubblica.repubblica.it+2

Contractor points to third-party software

French media named the contractor as Coolworld, a refrigeration company. Coolworld said the breach "concerns a component supplied by a third-party provider and not directly controlled by Coolworld" and that only a "limited number" of its units were affected, Politico Europe reported. The health minister's office said technical investigations are still under way. They aim to establish how the attack was carried out, how many machines may be involved and when the affected units can be brought back into service, according to Sud Ouest.sudouest.fr+1

Pattern of fridge attacks

The blood bank breach follows an October 12 attack that disrupted refrigeration at hundreds of supermarkets, Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace reported. Since then, a new wave of attacks on supermarket fridges across Europe has forced stores to throw out spoiled food. Officials have not said who is behind the attacks, though many are looking to Moscow, Politico Europe reported.dna.fr+1

Speaking in the Senate, French Digital Minister Anne Le Hénanff said the attacks "have directly targeted our economy and our supply chain." She added that their aim "may potentially be to undermine the unity of our country and to create anxiety among the population," Politico Europe reported.politico.eu