CYBERATTACK TARGETS FRENCH BLOOD SERVICE REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS

A cyberattack hit refrigeration systems at three cold stores run by France's national blood service, the EFS, authorities said on Wednesday. The attack, which began on Monday, struck a refrigeration provider supporting EFS, hitting monitoring and control systems at sites holding blood and plasma for transfusions. French magazine Le Canard Enchaîné, which first reported the attack, said the stores were programmed to reach 110C instead of -30C. EFS said there was no health impact and no blood products were lost, as alarm systems triggered and stock was moved to other sites.

EFS supplies blood, plasma and platelets to more than 1,900 hospitals in France, supporting over a million patients a year. It said the attack hit a contractor rather than EFS directly, and had reinforced its equipment and alerted France's cybersecurity agency and health ministry. The attack follows suspected hacks on supermarket refrigeration systems in countries including Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Germany and Britain this week, after 700 French supermarkets were attacked last month. Also on Wednesday, the cooperative bank Crédit Mutuel Arkéa said a similar attack had enabled fraudulent transactions, though client funds were unaffected. No group has claimed responsibility, and authorities have not identified a motive.

Thomas Regnier, a spokesperson for the European Union, said its agencies were holding urgent discussions with national authorities to develop a collective response. "These are not isolated incidents and of course we have to be collectively resilient and prepared for such cyber incidents," Regnier said. The EU has described the supermarket refrigeration attacks as a deliberate attempt to disrupt the bloc's food supply. The Pentagon is separately investigating refrigerator malfunctions at commissaries on six US military bases that occurred in August.