French blood banks hit in Europe-wide refrigerator cyber attack

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 4 Nov, 15:12 · Archive

Hackers disabled refrigeration systems at three French blood banks and supermarkets across eight European countries.

A cyber attack overnight between Sunday and Monday targeted refrigeration systems at three regional blood banks in France and supermarkets across eight European countries, including Sweden and Belgium. The French Blood Establishment reported that the attack impacted certain cold storage room monitoring and control systems.

The incident posed no threat to blood supplies. The blood bank's spokesperson said staff working round the clock were alerted to the problems and moved blood to refrigerators that were not connected to the affected systems. Supermarket operators were forced to discard large quantities of food as a result of the tampering.

Remote access to the affected refrigerators was disabled and the situation brought under control by Wednesday, according to France's health ministry. Investigations are under way into how the attack was carried out, what equipment was affected and when systems can safely return to service.

The attack echoed a similar incident in France three weeks earlier when hackers seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets, causing fires and food losses. The incidents have raised concerns in the European Union about vulnerabilities in connected infrastructure.

How it is being reported

• French blood banks targeted in Europe cyber attackRemote access to refrigerators affected by a cyber attack across Europe have been disabled and the situation brought under control.The West Australian · 4 Nov, 14:41
• French blood banks targeted in Europe cyber attackRemote access to refrigerators affected by a cyber attack across Europe have been disabled and the situation brought under control.Perth Now · 4 Nov, 14:41

In this story: French Blood Establishment · France · Sweden · Belgium · European Union

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log