Hackers hit French blood banks as freezer attacks spread to 11 countries
The French Blood Establishment said hackers raised the temperature of cold rooms storing donated blood at three sites, through a refrigeration supplier, but monitoring systems caught it and “no blood products or samples were compromised”. It is the first known medical target in a wave of attacks that has spoiled tonnes of food in supermarkets across at least 11 European countries; the EU calls the incidents “not isolated”, and no one has claimed responsibility.
Three security firms running decoy “honeypot” freezer systems say the second wave was planned and coordinated: Ryan Dewhurst of Previdian notes the devices were hit simultaneously and overnight “for maximum damage”, and Strathclyde-based Lupovis saw hackers scanning only its European decoys for ten days beforehand, leaving those in Ukraine, Africa and South America alone. The entry points were poorly protected and the methods already circulated online. Russian hacktivist groups Noname057(16) and Z-Pentest Alliance claimed to have breached the equipment maker Danfoss, but analysts question whether that makes them the culprits; Iranian hackers, state actors and even teenagers pulling pranks have not been ruled out, and Romania’s cyber-security chief called the supermarket attacks “semi-amateurish” and said he did not suspect a state. Germany, Romania and the United Kingdom reported hits on Monday after nine EU countries, and Brussels says its agencies are working with national authorities on a joint response. The blood-bank attack was thwarted before any damage, but it marks the point at which the hacks reached a health system.