Cyberattack Alters Refrigeration Controls at Three French Blood Sites

A cyberattack altered refrigeration monitoring and control systems at three Établissement français du sang (EFS) cold-storage sites on November 2, prompting staff to secure or move plasma and biological samples. EFS said alarms detected the changes in time, no blood products were lost, and collection and distribution continued without interruption. The affected rooms held plasma intended for transfusions and medicine production, as well as samples kept in EFS biobanks. Staff regained control of some equipment and took other units out of service, transferring their contents to other storage as a precaution, according to the blood service. The EFS said it was not directly targeted; the intrusion reached systems used by a refrigeration supplier. France’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that the situation was under control and that remote access to the affected equipment had been disabled. EFS said it had strengthened monitoring and was coordinating with the ministry and France’s national cybersecurity agency, ANSSI. The ministry and ANSSI are investigating alongside the blood service. The precise settings entered and the temperatures actually reached have not been publicly...