Hackers accessed control systems at three cold storage sites used by the French blood service (EFS) overnight Monday. The attackers raised temperature and defrosting thresholds to "very high levels" at these locations. The EFS, which collects, tests, prepares, and distributes blood, plasma, and platelets to more than 1,900 hospitals and supports more than a million patients annually, reported that the attack hit contractors rather than the EFS directly. Technicians moved plasma bags for transfusions and medicine manufacturing to other sites before the products became compromised. Alarm systems allowed for this intervention. The French national cybersecurity agency (ANSSI) and the health ministry received alerts regarding the incident immediately following the breach. The refrigeration company Coolworld, which supplies the EFS, stated that the incident "concerns a component supplied by a third-party provider and not directly controlled by Coolworld" and that the issue only affected a "limited number" of its units at the time.
| Affected Entity | Scale of Impact | Status of Products |
|---|---|---|
| EFS Cold Stores | Three sites | Moved to other locations |
| European Supermarkets | Multiple countries | Millions of euros in food damage |
European fridge hacks
This incident links to a wave of cyberattacks on refrigeration systems across Europe. In supermarkets, hackers manipulated defrost settings to cause temperatures to soar as high as 50C (122F), causing millions of euros in food damage. Retailers in Italy, Germany, Romania, and the UK reported problems on Tuesday, after Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden reported issues with their refrigeration systems the previous day. Last month, hackers seized control of cooling units in as many as 700 supermarkets in France, prompting widespread investigations. A regional branch of France’s Credit Mutuel bank also reported a cyber-attack on Wednesday.
The French digital minister Anne Le Henanff told the Senate today that these attacks "have directly targeted our economy and our supply chain." She added that the objective "may potentially be to undermine the unity of our country and to create anxiety among the population." Following emergency talks between the Italian government and intelligence officials on Tuesday, EU spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the bloc’s agencies are holding urgent discussions with national authorities to formulate a collective response. Regnier said, "These are not isolated incidents and of course we have to be collectively resilient and prepared for such cyber incidents." Rafe Pilling, the senior director for threat intelligence at Sophos, said the most plausible scenarios involve "state-based signalling and demonstration of capability" or a lone-wolf hacker. The Pentagon is investigating a suspected hack after a series of mysterious fridge malfunctions hit commissaries in at least six military bases in the US in early August, which occurred without clear explanation. These incidents involve internet-connected software that can leave code open to hackers if they do not apply patches to repair emerging vulnerabilities.
