Hackers Raise French Blood Bank Storage Temperatures to 110C

A cyberattack on France's national blood storage infrastructure caused refrigeration facilities operated by service provider Coolworld to reach 110C overnight on Sunday. Hackers remotely accessed temperature controls, threatening stored blood samples, while similar attacks affected supermarkets and refrigeration systems across several European countries.

The affected storage rooms normally operate at -30C to preserve donor blood samples. According to French weekly Le Canard enchaîné, the attackers gained remote access to the refrigeration settings and raised temperatures to extreme levels.

The French Blood Establishment (EFS) said an on-duty technician detected the abnormal temperature increase on Sunday night and immediately notified the organization. The Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region experienced the most significant disruption.

France's health ministry said the incident had no consequences for patients and that no plasma had been destroyed. The EFS initially explained that the affected samples belonged to a health monitoring system connected to blood transfusions.

The incident comes amid a wider wave of attacks targeting commercial refrigeration infrastructure across Europe. In west London, food wholesaler Langridge Organic said hackers had taken control of six of its 10 cold-room refrigeration systems.

The attackers remotely activated defrost cycles and increased the maximum temperatures to 66C. The company supplies retailers including Whole Foods Market, Riverford and Able & Cole.

Hundreds of grocery stores in France and approximately 40 Delhaize supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg were also affected. Other reported incidents involved retailers in Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland.

Swedish furniture retailer Ikea was among the affected businesses. Hackers accessed in-store refrigeration units remotely and raised temperatures to 80C, causing food to spoil. The incidents forced businesses to discard food worth millions of euros last month.

In Hoeilaart, Flanders, northern Belgium, a Delhaize branch told news website Het Laatste Nieuws that it had lost €100,000 worth of products, equivalent to approximately £83,500.

Britain's cybersecurity authorities have also raised concerns about the vulnerabilities. On Monday night, experts from GCHQ warned British food companies about security risks affecting their refrigeration infrastructure.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), an agency within GCHQ, confirmed that vulnerable refrigeration technology had been exploited in Britain.

"instances where vulnerable technology has been exploited in the UK" the National Cyber Security Centre said.

France had already issued warnings about the threat. On Oct. 12, CERT-FR, part of the National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI), published a security alert documenting attacks against multiple refrigeration systems.

The agency advised companies against making refrigeration system management interfaces accessible through the internet, highlighting the risks associated with remotely accessible equipment.

On Oct. 21, ANSSI Director General Vincent Strubel addressed the issue during a Senate hearing. He warned that cyberattacks could also threaten medical refrigeration equipment used in research laboratories, pharmacies and healthcare facilities.