A cyberattack altered refrigeration settings at three sites operated by France’s national blood service, but monitoring systems detected the problem before any blood products or samples were compromised, the Établissement français du sang (EFS) said.
The incident occurred on November 2, affecting cold-storage facilities used for plasma. Staff secured or moved the stored products after alarms flagged unusually high temperature and defrost settings, according to the EFS. The agency said there were no identified health consequences and no products were lost. Blood collection and distribution continued without interruption.
The affected systems were connected to refrigeration equipment supplied by Coolworld. The company said it was aware of the incident and that the reported vulnerability involved a component from a third-party supplier, outside its direct control. It said a limited number of units were affected and that it was taking measures. CBS News reported the company’s statement.
Investigators have not named a perpetrator
France’s national cybersecurity agency and Health Ministry are investigating. The ministry has not identified who may have carried out the attack. The Associated Press reported that authorities were examining the incident and its circumstances.
The attack followed cyber incidents in October involving refrigeration systems at supermarkets and independent stores in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Those incidents disrupted food storage, but investigators have not publicly established a connection between them and the attack on the blood service.
French weekly newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné reported that the attempted settings could have raised temperatures from the facilities’ usual −30°C to 110°C. The EFS confirmed only that thresholds had been raised to extreme levels; it did not confirm that the equipment or stored plasma reached that temperature.
Reid Bentley 
Dana Mcgee