Digital Shield reports:
France has once again been targeted by cybercriminals. This time, the cyber attackers have focused on the French Blood Service (Établissement Français du Sang or EFS) in an incident whose modus operandi is very reminiscent of the recent hacking of some French supermarket chains.
The threat actors intervened in the temperature control systems of the equipment of the refrigeration service provider Coolworld. The EFS uses this company’s refrigerators to store therapeutic plasma and blood samples intended for transfusions.
Once again, the attackers managed to remotely reprogram the parameters of the refrigeration chambers. The normal storage temperature for plasma is about 25 or 30 degrees below zero, but the cybercriminals raised it to 110 degrees. With this 140-degree change, much of the donated blood was spoiled.
“At that temperature, it turns into black pudding,” a French surgeon stated, as reported by the satirical outlet Le Canard Enchaîné.
Fortunately, the activation of independent temperature monitoring systems and the quick response of the staff prevented the altered samples from entering the transfusion circuit.
French health authorities have assured that there have been no consequences for the hospital network or for patients, and there has been no evidence of the theft of personal or medical data from donors.
Read more at Digital Shield.
