Attacks on European Refrigeration Systems Reach French Blood Banks

A coordinated campaign against connected refrigeration systems has affected at least eleven European countries and three facilities operated by the Établissement français du sang, France’s national blood collection and transfusion service. The attackers altered temperatures, defrost thresholds, and other cold-room parameters, in some cases setting them to extremely high values, but alarms allowed technicians to intervene before blood, samples, or other products were damaged. Available evidence points to a combination of Internet-exposed management interfaces, weak or default credentials, outdated firmware, and possible access through shared HVAC/R maintenance providers; attribution remains open. The incident in France is part of a series that has already affected hundreds of supermarkets and demonstrates how the compromise of operational equipment can have direct consequences for public health and food safety. CSIRT Italia urgently called on domestic operators to check exposed interfaces, change credentials, segment networks, and implement the previously recommended mitigation measures. Organizations managing the cold chain should also review configurations and logs, restrict maintenance providers’ remote access, and establish manual monitoring and response procedures.

Source: ACN — CSIRT Italia