Europe’s industrial scale fridges continue to be at the mercy of cybercriminals, who have claimed another victim in their chilling hacking spree.
The French Blood Establishment (EFS) confirmed that its cold storage units containing blood were compromised at three of its locations on Monday. The attack allowed the hackers to crank temperatures and defrost thresholds up to “excessively high levels,” it said in a statement translated from French by CNBC.
The attack targeted Coolword, the refrigeration system provider; the EFS blood bank just happened to be collateral damage, endangering a lifesaving medical cache.
“These cold storage units — located at EFS preparation and distribution sites — are used to store blood products prior to their delivery to healthcare facilities, as well as samples intended for EFS biobanks,” the EFS said.
The attack coincided with another attack on European supermarkets that same day, spoiling food as hackers set thermostats up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
No blood samples were lost, but it was a close call. The blood bank’s surveillance systems were activated immediately, allowing the compromised equipment to be either brought under control — or in some cases turned off — before the heat could damage the blood stores. The samples were then quickly transferred to other facilities, per CNBC.
The French health ministry said that the “situation is now under control and is being closely monitored,” per Reuters. “The safety of the blood supplies was preserved thanks to the facilities’ monitoring and alarm systems, as well as precautionary measures immediately implemented.”
The blood bank incident comes just two weeks after hackers hijacked the fridge and freezer systems of hundreds of supermarkets across France and parts of Europe. Several major food chains were affected, including Carrefour, which said that 80 of its locations were caught in the attack. The hackers dialed the thermostats to temperatures as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit. In many cases the tampering wasn’t caught until it was too late, causing millions of euros worth of food to be spoiled and thrown out. Some locations even experienced fires.
The breach was linked to a vulnerability in the refrigeration controller software provided by Danfoss. Some of the fridges targeted in the new wave of supermarket hacks on Monday also used Danfoss software. The culprits in all the attacks remain unknown, but given the similarities involved, there will be suspicions that they’re linked.
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