Cyberattacks on Refrigeration Systems Hit French Blood Banks, U.S. Health Group Warns
Health ISAC, a group that shares security information for the healthcare industry, has warned its members about a recent wave of cyberattacks targeting refrigeration controllers. Controllers are the devices that run cooling equipment. The group's bulletin was issued for situational awareness, meaning to keep members informed about the threat, and it linked recent attacks on certain refrigeration brands to wider risks facing the health sector.
The bulletin described one incident that affected a major French blood bank. France's Health Ministry said several French blood banks were hit by a cyberattack on Nov. 2, according to Reuters. The French Blood Establishment, known by its French initials EFS, confirmed that a vendor used in its cold storage rooms was targeted. The activity raised defrost and temperature settings to dangerously high levels.
The attack reached a supplier of refrigeration equipment at three EFS sites. The products stored there were bags of plasma intended for transfusions. After alerts flagged the incident, staff moved blood supplies to backup cold storage that had not been affected, Reuters and Fox Business reported.
U.S. agencies have also taken notice. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture published a fact sheet on threats to industrial refrigeration and cold-chain monitoring systems, the tools that track temperatures for goods that must stay cold. FBI Cyber Branch Operations director Brett Leatherman said the bureau is tracking people targeting industrial refrigeration systems across critical infrastructure sectors around the world. He said the attacks put inventory and equipment at risk.
Errol Weiss, chief security officer at Health ISAC, told NPR in an email that cybersecurity in healthcare is fundamentally about patient safety. He said that manipulating cold storage units that hold donor blood, plasma or critical therapies puts at risk the physical supplies needed to sustain human life.
