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Cyberattack on refrigeration supplier disrupts cold rooms at three French blood banks

A cyberattack on a company that supplies refrigeration equipment caused temperature changes in storage rooms at three French blood banks. The blood establishment says monitoring caught the problem in time, and no blood products are reported compromised.

Cyberattack on refrigeration supplier hits French blood banks
Cyberattack on refrigeration supplier hits French blood banks

What's new

Newest coverage

TimelineWhat should my organization do?

What happened

The French Blood Establishment (EFS), the only civilian blood collection and transfusion organization in France, says three blood banks detected and reversed a potentially destructive temperature rise in cold rooms. The cause was a cyberattack on a provider of refrigeration equipment to the EFS. [1]

The EFS says it was not directly targeted, but anomalies were reported that changed the operating parameters of cold rooms fitted with the provider's equipment. Its monitoring systems caught the anomalies in time. [1]

Security Affairs reports the incident happened overnight between Sunday and Monday, at about the same time attackers were hitting supermarket refrigeration systems in Europe. [2]

Wider context

SecurityWeek reports that supermarkets in several European countries said this week that their fridges and freezers warmed up after being remotely hacked. It says no blood products were compromised at the blood bank. [3]

What is not yet known

The available coverage does not name the refrigeration provider, say who is responsible, or confirm how the supermarket and blood bank incidents are connected. [1][2][3]

Timeline

  1. No blood products were reported compromised at the affected blood bank. [3]

  2. Cyberattacks disrupted refrigeration monitoring at three French blood banks, around the time supermarket refrigeration was targeted in Europe. [2]

  3. The French Blood Establishment said three blood banks reversed a temperature spike in cold rooms after an attack on an equipment provider. [1]

Business ActionWhat this means inside your organization, and what to do about it, by company size.

Small business

No dedicated security staff; relies on providers

What to know

The attack reached the blood banks through a supplier of refrigeration equipment, not through the organization itself. No fix or indicators have been published in the coverage. [1]

What to do

  1. Ask suppliers of refrigeration or other monitored equipment whether they were affected and how they are handling it. [1]
  2. Check that temperature alarms for refrigerated stock are working and that someone is told when they trigger. [1]

Mid-size company

A small IT or security team

What to know

The EFS says monitoring systems caught the anomalies in time, limiting the effect of the supplier's incident. [1]

What to do

  1. List which refrigeration and building systems are managed remotely by third parties. [1][3]
  2. Confirm that independent temperature monitoring is in place and review alerts from the past week. [1]

Large enterprise

A security operations team

What to know

Reports link the blood bank incident in time to attacks on supermarket refrigeration in several European countries, though the sources do not confirm a common cause. [2][3]

What to do

  1. Review third-party remote access to refrigeration and facility control systems and watch for advisories from the affected provider. [1][2]
  2. Check whether any supplier of temperature-controlled equipment in your estate has reported an incident. [3]

Sources

  1. [1]Help Net Security · Nov 4, 13:36 UTC
    Cyberattack hits French blood bankscontext
  2. [2]Security Affairs · Nov 4, 19:01 UTC
    Cyberattack Hits French Blood Banks as Hackers Target Refrigeration Systems Across Europecontext
  3. [3]SecurityWeek · Nov 5, 12:58 UTC
    Cyberattack Hits French Blood Bank Site but No Blood Products Are Compromisedcontext