Hackers broke into the temperature controls of cold storage units used by France’s national blood service, EFS, overnight from Sunday to Monday and reportedly programmed them to heat blood samples to as much as 110 degrees Celsius.
The French Health Ministry said on Wednesday that several regional blood banks had been hit by a cyberattack on Monday, but that the situation was under control and blood products stored at the centres had not been affected, Reuters reported. The ministry said there had been no operational consequences, as the rise in temperature was detected in time.
The attack targeted Coolworld, a company that maintains EFS cold rooms, including in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, according to French weekly Le Canard enchaîné.
The units are normally kept at minus 30 degrees Celsius to preserve blood samples from donors. The attackers reportedly gained access to the control systems and changed the settings, raising temperatures to levels that could have destroyed the samples.
A technician on night duty spotted the unusual rise in temperature, allowing the problem to be identified and further damage to be avoided.
EFS said the samples stored at the affected facilities were part of a health monitoring system linked to blood transfusions. The full extent of any damage to the samples, and whether some of the stored material was affected, is not yet clear.
(information from Reuters, iefimerida.gr)
