Blood banks among victims of European cyber attacks – The National

Blood banks among victims of European cyber attacks  The National

A cyber attack that has affected supermarkets across Europe also hit cold storage sites used by France’s national blood service, it has emerged. Several ​regional ⁠blood ⁠banks were ​hit by ⁠the attack on November ⁠2, the ​French ⁠health Ministry ‌said ​on Wednesday. Hackers accessed control units for fridges containing blood samples and programmed them to raise to temperatures of 110°C, local media reported. Supermarkets that fell victim in the second wave of cyber attacks were rushing to upgrade their systems and protect themselves ​against further hacking attempts. Shops in eight European countries were forced to throw away vast quantities of food after hackers tampered on Monday with their ⁠fridges, in an attack identical to one that swept dozens of supermarkets in France three weeks ago.

Coolworld, a company that stores containers for the French Blood Establishment (EFS) as part of a health monitoring system related to blood transfusions was among the companies affected, Le Canard reported. The temperature increase from the usual -30°C was spotted in time, the organisation said. France’s Health Ministry said the incident caused no operational consequences due to the early detection. In Sweden, supermarket chain Coop said it was switching systems to 5G networks and modern modems, instead of 4G connections – a process that had already started since the French incident. The seven ⁠shops hit