In a statement released on Tuesday (Nov 3), the French Blood Establishment (EFS) said the monitoring and control systems for cold storage rooms deployed at three of its sites were hit, affecting equipment storing blood samples and plasma used in transfusions.
France’s national civilian blood service, the EFS, has revealed that it was hit by a cyberattack on Monday (Nov 2), with the hackers raising the refrigerator temperatures to “very high levels”.
“While the French Blood Establishment (EFS) was not directly targeted by this cybersecurity incident, anomalies were reported, leading to alterations in the operating parameters of cold storage rooms equipped with the service provider’s solution. The monitoring and control systems for cold storage rooms deployed at three EFS sites were affected,” read the statement in the press release. Specifically, temperature and defrosting thresholds were raised to very high levels. Coolworld, the refrigeration supplier for EFS, acknowledged the incident in a statement. However, the company clarified that the component involved was sourced from a third-party provider and fell outside of its control.
“On November 2, 2026, a refrigeration equipment supplier to the French Blood Establishment (EFS) was the victim of a cybersecurity incident.
