Hackers target blood storage freezers in France, raising temperatures to 110°C

Hackers breached the refrigeration systems of a company supplying equipment to the French Blood Establishment (EFS), changing the programmed temperature of storage units from the usual -30°C to 110°C, according to French media reports.

The cyberattack took place overnight between November 1 and 2 and affected facilities storing blood samples and frozen plasma intended for transfusions. The company involved, Coolworld, rents climate-control equipment to businesses and professional organizations.

An on-call engineer detected the unusual temperature increase and raised the alarm in time to prevent the samples from being lost.

“The safety of the products was not compromised,” EFS president Frédéric Pacoud told BFMTV.

The incident comes weeks after cyberattacks affected refrigeration systems at several French supermarket chains on October 12, causing temperatures in some refrigerators to rise to 50°C and resulting in millions of euros in losses.

The Pentagon is also involved in investigations into the supermarket incidents and attacks affecting facilities at U.S. military bases. However, authorities have not established any connection between those cases and the attack on the blood storage equipment.