The wave of European fridge hacks has reached France's blood supply
The French Health Ministry said it is closely monitoring the situation and confirmed that no biological materials were lost. The intrusion appears to have targeted refrigeration equipment at three sites, reportedly including one in Burgundy-Franche-Comté. Read Entire Article
A cyberattack targeting refrigeration units controlled by France's national blood service, Établissement Français du Sang (EFS), has occurred. This marks the latest in a series of intrusions affecting cold-storage systems across Europe. No biological materials were lost in the attack, which triggered EFS's alarm system, prompting staff to relocate affected stock to operational storage units.
The French Health Ministry is closely monitoring the situation, confirming that no biological materials were lost. The intrusion targeted refrigeration equipment at three sites, one of which is reportedly located in Burgundy-Franche-Comté. However, the attackers did not breach EFS directly; instead, they targeted a service provider, identified as Coolworld, a refrigeration rental company.
Coolworld has identified the issue as arising from remote monitoring software used in its systems, though it has not provided further technical details. While the earlier supermarket attacks involved direct exposure of refrigeration equipment to the internet, Coolworld may have kept its controllers on a private network, requiring attackers to breach that network first.
EFS's monitoring and alarm system detected the breach, not the vendor's. Coolworld has not disclosed the specific brand of controller used. The attacks appear to have targeted a single manufacturer's equipment at a time, with Danfoss controllers being the most prominently targeted. In the previous attacks, intruders raised freezer temperatures in Belgium and Sweden to 50 degrees Celsius, causing food spoilage.
Danfoss and Copeland, two major refrigeration controller manufacturers, have been implicated in these attacks. Both manufacturers have provided guidance on securing their devices, but the instructions have been criticized as insufficient. Two Russia-aligned hacking groups, Noname057(16) and Z-Pentest, have claimed responsibility for the attacks, stating their intent is to expose poor cybersecurity practices.
Written by urgent.news from TechSpot's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
