Hackers turn up blood bank fridges to boiling temperatures - The Independent

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Hackers have targeted refrigeration systems used to store blood plasma in France, reportedly turning up temperatures to 110C.

The French Blood Establishment (EFS) said the cyber attack hit three of its cold-storage facilities on Monday, though monitoring systems caught the issue before any samples were damaged.

The incident, which came on the same day that supermarket fridges and freezers were attacked across Europe, is being investigated by French authorities.

“Temperatures and defrosting thresholds were raised to extremely high levels,” the EFS said in a statement, though no exact temperature was mentioned.

French publication Le Canard Enchaîné, who first reported on the attack, said refrigeration systems were reprogrammed from -30C to 110C.

It is not known whether the attack on French blood services is connected to the supermarket incidents, which hit chains across at least 10 countries.

No group or hacking collective has claimed responsibility for any of the refrigeration cyber attacks.

European Union spokesperson Thomas Regnier said the bloc was holding discussions with national authorities to coordinate a response.

The ideal summer spot? Away from scams.

The ideal summer spot? Away from scams.

“These are not isolated incidents and of course we have to be collectively resilient and prepared for such cyber incidents,” he said.

A small number of freezers were also impacted in the UK, according to the head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

NCSC chief Dr Richard Horne warned that many organisations had not kept vital computer systems up to date.

“That technology base that we rely on as a society has not been invested in to the extent it needs to be,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“That leaves a whole load of vulnerabilities that now AI, in the hands of our adversaries, can enable them to find with ease and exploit.”

Security experts have warned that new artificial intelligence tools have significantly lowered the barrier to entry for potential hackers, allowing cyber criminals to carry out attacks at far greater scale and speed.

Critical infrastructure has become a particular focus for hackers, as an attack on connected systems can have consequences far beyond the theft of sensitive data.

“Cyber attacks are no longer just about stolen data,” Barry Mainz, CEO of cyber security firm Forescout, told The Independent.

“When attackers reach the systems that run hospitals, water, energy, transportation, food supply, and other essential services, cyber risk becomes a threat to public health, public safety, and national security.

“The NCSC’s warning echoes what those of us in cybersecurity have been shouting since April: AI is dramatically increasing the speed and scale of that threat.”