Photo: FRANK MERIÑO / Pexels
A cyberattack on a refrigeration equipment supplier affected three French Blood Establishment (EFS) sites (inbusiness.kz). Hackers changed temperature settings, but staff moved donated blood components to other storage chambers in time. No blood components were lost, and no harm to patients’ health was reported.
What happened
One of EFS’s refrigeration equipment suppliers came under attack. The blood service itself was not the target, but the breach affected systems used to monitor and control storage chambers at its sites.
Through these systems, hackers changed temperature thresholds and defrost settings. They set critically high values on equipment used to store blood components.
How staff saved the blood components
Blood service staff detected problems with the refrigerators in time. They moved the contents of the affected chambers to other chambers, preserving the blood components after the equipment settings had been tampered with.
“No harm to patients’ health has been identified. No blood components have been lost,” EFS stressed.
The attack on a supplier therefore affected equipment belonging to another organisation — the French blood service. In this case, staff noticed the changes and moved the chambers’ contents before any losses occurred.
