Singapore’s blood bank systems unaffected by French cyberattack: HSA
HSA said it has plans to keep blood supplies available during disruptions and will continue working with CSA.
Singapore’s sole blood bank service remained unaffected by the recent cyberattacks that targeted blood banks in France. The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) confirmed that it does not utilize any of the compromised storage and monitoring systems that impacted three French blood banks on November 4. The HSA reassured the public that it employs multiple layers of safeguards to maintain safe blood storage conditions.
The National Blood Programme, a joint initiative between the HSA and the Singapore Red Cross, supplies blood to local hospitals. Donors can contribute blood at five blood banks or through mobile blood drives.
The HSA highlighted its safeguards, which include independent checks, monitoring, alert mechanisms, and well-established response procedures for any detected irregularities. The authority also mentioned plans to ensure the availability of blood supplies during disruptions and ongoing collaboration with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) to strengthen its defenses as necessary.
In a separate development, the local cord blood bank StemCord also reviewed its systems following reports of the attacks. Each tank in their facilities has its own monitoring system, which cannot be controlled remotely. Any unauthorized access to the monitoring readings would not allow the attacker to manipulate the storage temperature.
The cyberattacks in France targeted a refrigeration equipment supplier and disrupted temperature monitoring and control systems at three regional blood banks. The temperature settings ramped up from the standard minus 30 degrees Celsius to a dangerous 110 degrees Celsius. Alarms alerted staff, who promptly transferred blood products to unaffected refrigerators. France’s national blood service reported that supplies were not affected.
The attacks began with a wave of refrigeration strikes in mid-October, affecting numerous French supermarkets. Subsequent attacks in early November spread to additional supermarkets across Europe. Hackers reportedly infiltrated the controls via the internet, manipulating temperature settings, which led to the disposal of spoiled food.
The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) issued an advisory on November 6, warning that the same vulnerability could expose other equipment, such as air-conditioning systems in buildings or water treatment equipment, to tampering. The CSA urged organizations to assess which controls are accessible over the internet, restrict public access, limit remote logins, enforce second identity checks, maintain updated software, and train staff to identify unexpected equipment changes and respond to system compromises.
Written by urgent.news from Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
