French Blood Establishment Thwarts Cyberattack on Plasma Storage

The French Blood Establishment, known as EFS, confirmed that a cyberattack targeted three of its plasma cold-storage sites on Monday. The intrusion attempted to increase temperature and defrosting thresholds to extreme levels. Staff detected the anomaly through monitoring systems and intervened before any damage occurred. EFS stated that no blood products or samples were compromised during the incident.

The attack specifically targeted a supplier of refrigeration equipment rather than the blood bank's internal systems directly. Le Canard Enchaîné, the weekly newspaper that first reported the breach, noted that hackers tried to reset standard freezer temperatures of minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit to a high of 230 degrees Fahrenheit. The affected sites stored bags of plasma intended for transfusions and plasma used in medicine manufacturing. EFS said all stored products were either transferred or secured, and collection and distribution operations remain uninterrupted.

Coolworld, the refrigeration equipment supplier, acknowledged the cybersecurity incident in a statement. The company explained that the vulnerability involved a component from a third-party supplier that was outside its direct control. It stated that only a limited number of units were affected and that it is taking appropriate measures to address the issue. France's national cybersecurity agency and the Health Ministry are currently investigating the event. The Health Ministry did not identify the group responsible for the attack.

This incident follows a similar wave of cyberattacks on refrigeration systems across Europe in mid-October. During that earlier episode, fridges and freezers at hundreds of supermarkets and independent stores in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands were remotely taken over. The failures caused tons of food to spoil, resulting in millions of dollars in costs for retailers. The timing of the blood bank attack has raised concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to digital threats.

Ahold Delhaize, a Dutch supermarket chain affected by the mid-October incident, released earnings data on Wednesday. The company expects the cyberattack to reduce its fourth-quarter sales by as much as $281 million, or 250 million euros. Operating income for the period is expected to drop by over $112 million, or about 100 million euros. CEO Franz Muller said most disruption was contained within two weeks, but work continues to restore normal operations.

Muller noted in a statement released with the quarterly earnings that cyber threats are an increasingly harsh reality for businesses. Ahold Delhaize previously attributed the earlier breach to malicious actions by others. The company proactively took several systems offline, including websites and apps for its various brands in Europe and the United States, to mitigate the impact of the attack.