France confirms blood storage attack

FRANCE: The French blood transfusion service has confirmed that some of its blood product cold storage rooms were victims of this week’s cyber security incident.

Monitoring and alarm systems at the French Blood Establishment (EFS) reported alterations in the operating parameters of cold storage rooms at three EFS sites. Specifically, these involved temperature and defrosting thresholds being raised to “very high” levels. The rapid implementation of necessary measures ensured that no blood samples or products were compromised. 

Blood products are indeed kept in cold storage at the EFS preparation and distribution sites before being delivered to healthcare facilities, and samples are also kept for the EFS biobanks.

In a statement, the EFS said that its technical teams are fully mobilised, in conjunction with the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI) and the Ministry of Health. “Monitoring of the operation and temperatures of all our equipment has been reinforced.”