Cyberattacks disrupted refrigeration monitoring at three regional blood bank facilities in France this week, prompting concern about the security of essential medical supplies. The incidents came amid similar attacks on supermarket systems in several European countries.
France’s national blood service, the French Blood Establishment (EFS), was hit overnight from Sunday into Monday, officials said Wednesday.
The health ministry said the attack affected monitoring and control systems for cold storage rooms at several regional sites. Blood supplies were not compromised: staff received alerts and moved them to refrigerators that were not connected to the affected systems.
“We have staff round the clock since blood can be needed at any time,” EFS spokesperson Charley Dubois said. Employees were alerted to the problems and transferred the blood to other refrigerators, she added.
By Wednesday, the situation was under control and remote access to the affected systems had been disabled, the ministry said. Investigators are working to determine how the attack happened, which equipment was affected and when it can safely be put back into service.
The incident took place as supermarket refrigeration systems were targeted in eight European countries, leading retailers to throw away food. Around 40 Delhaize supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg were affected. Other incidents were reported in Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland.
Some systems reportedly switched into defrost mode, causing temperatures to rise and refrigerated goods to spoil.
The attacks followed a separate incident last month in France, where hackers tampered with refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets. Carrefour, Monoprix, Les Mousquetaires, E. Leclerc and Coopérative U were among the chains affected. Some stores reported temperatures as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in substantial food losses.
In the United States, investigators are looking into refrigeration failures at at least six military commissaries in August. The Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Cyber Field Office is working with the Defense Commissary Agency and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service on the inquiry. Commissaries are grocery stores on military installations that serve service members and their families.
Former FBI special agent Nicole Parker has warned that grocery stores and other essential services in the United States could face similar cyberattacks. Systems people depend on for food and other necessities may be vulnerable, she said.
“What we’re seeing right now is in Europe and other places, but it can very well happen on our soil,” Parker said.
