Hackers attacked blood storage refrigerators in France
The temperature of biomaterials, which was at minus 30 degrees, rose to 100 degrees of heat. Prevention measures were taken to stop the samples intended for patients from becoming unusable.
Hackers attack blood storage freezers in France
Hackers attacked freezers at the warehouses of the French Blood Establishment (EFS), remotely raising the temperature where biomaterials are stored to 110 degrees.
The cyberattack occurred on November 2 in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. Hackers breached the cooling system of the Coolworld company and changed the temperature settings from minus 30 degrees to plus 110 degrees. However, a technician noticed the sharp rise in temperature in time. Thus, serious consequences were prevented.
The French Ministry of Health stated that this incident did not affect the institution's operations. The head of the blood service, Frédéric Pacoud, stressed that the attack did not cause harm to patients' health.
"We could have lost samples intended for patient treatment, as well as plasma reserves," he said.
For reference, on November 2, cyberattacks were carried out on freezer and cold storage systems in dozens of supermarkets in Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Estonia. As a result, the temperature in these devices rose sharply, causing serious damage to the products.