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Blood Freezers Heated in French Cyberattack
4 Nov
Summary
- Hackers remotely heated freezers containing blood samples.
- A technician noticed the abnormal temperature spike and averted damage.
- No hospital supplies were disrupted by the cyber incident.
A cyberattack on France's national blood agency, Etablissement Francais du Sang (EFS), nearly compromised vital blood products. Between November 1 and 2, hackers gained access to the systems of Coolworld, a refrigeration contractor for EFS. They reprogrammed cold storage units, raising temperatures from -30°C to 110°C.
An alert technician observed the abnormal temperature spike and intervened, averting potential disaster. The Ministry of Health assured that hospital blood supplies were not disrupted. While initially believed to be routine samples, affected units also contained frozen plasma for transfusions. This incident occurred amidst a wider trend of cyberattacks on industrial cooling systems across Europe.
