The Paris prosecutor's office opens an investigation after the cyberattack targeting the French Blood Establishment

An investigation was opened by the cybercrime section of the Paris prosecutor's office after the cyberattack that hit cold rooms at the French Blood Establishment at the beginning of the month, the public prosecutor said on Tuesday, requested by AFP. The investigations were entrusted to the Anti-Cybercrime Office (Ofac) and the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI) for “attack on a computerized data processing system”. The Paris prosecutor's office is not able to "confirm at this stage any link with the connected fridge affair", in which Iran has been implicated (and which it is defending), but "the investigations are continuing".

The French Blood Establishment (EFS) assured AFP that it was continuing “in conjunction with the competent authorities, the investigations initiated following the cybersecurity incident which affected certain technical equipment”. “A judicial investigation is now underway,” develops the EFS. “All the necessary audit, security and control measures were initiated as soon as the incident was detected, in coordination with state authorities including Anssi” (National Agency for Information Systems Security), adds the EFS.

“No health impact”

Cold rooms containing stocks from blood donations suffered a cyberattack at the beginning of the month, which targeted a refrigeration service provider of the French Blood Establishment, without "health impact", confirmed the office of the Minister of Health and the EFS following information from Le Canard chainé. After a “cybersecurity incident” which affected cold room supervision and control installations in three regional sites, “anomalies were reported, leading to an alteration of the operating parameters of cold rooms equipped with the service provider’s solution,” explained the EFS.

According to Le Canard Enchaîné, a hack had affected the company Coolworld, an EFS service provider specializing in refrigeration solutions, particularly in Burgundy-Franche-Comté. “The cold rooms, where donor samples are kept at -30°C, have been programmed to reach 110°C!”, reported the weekly. “Only a limited number of Coolworld units were affected” by the “cybersecurity incident” on remote monitoring software for refrigeration systems, which affected “a component supplied by a third-party provider,” the company said in a statement.