In a new security bulletin, the information sharing and analysis center devoted to the healthcare industry, Health ISAC, alerted members to a recent wave of cyberattacks targeting refrigeration controllers — including one incident that affected a major French blood bank. "This alert is issued for situational awareness, highlighting how recent operational technology (OT) attacks against specific refrigeration brands directly intersect with emerging threats to the health sector," reads the bulletin seen by NPR. Operational technology refers to the machines that control physical processes in the real world, from cooling systems to water pumps.
Cyberattacks on grocery stores and food processing plants everywhere from Europe and Israel to U.S. military bases have drawn headlines in recent months, particularly as attacks have resulted in spoiled food, fires, broken machinery, and major business disruptions. Attackers are clearly aware of the vulnerability of these systems and are taking advantage. However, until news broke that the French blood bank, known as the French Blood Establishment, had also been targeted, there was less public attention focused on the potential consequences of refrigeration controllers failing in other industries, particularly healthcare, where lifesaving implements like blood and vaccines often require finely tuned temperature-controlled environments to remain viable.
"This incident underscores a stark operational reality: cybersecurity in healthcare is fundamentally about patient safety," wrote Errol Weiss, the chief security officer at Health ISAC in an email to NPR. "When threat actors manipulate operational technology like cold-chain storage and refrigeration units holding donor blood, plasma, or critical therapies, they aren't merely stealing data or locking down administrative files, they are directly endangering the physical resources required to sustain human life." On Thursday, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture published their own fact sheet about threats to industrial refrigeration and cold chain monitoring systems, tools they identify as critical to multiple industries from healthcare to chemical production, food and agriculture, and transportation.
The FBI Cyber Branch Operations director, Brett Leatherman, said the bureau is tracking bad actors targeting these systems "across critical infrastructure sectors globally, putting inventory and equipment at risk." "Industrial refrigeration and cold-chain monitoring systems protect food, medicine, and other temperature-sensitive products, making them attractive targets for malicious cyber actors," Leatherman said. The French blood bank confirmed in a press release Tuesday that one of its vendors used in cold storage rooms was targeted by malicious cyber activity, resulting in the defrost and temperature thresholds being raised dangerously high. The French Blood Establishment ultimately managed to detect the suspicious activity in time to rescue blood samples.
It remains unclear who is responsible for the global attacks on refrigeration controllers, and whether it's multiple actors or groups. Iran has been linked to at least one incident in Israel earlier in the spring, though that breach involved a lot more sophistication and malicious activity. Investigators probing the disruptions at U.S. military bases are also considering Iran as the potential culprit.
Meanwhile, two pro-Russian hacking groups, NoName057(16) and Z-Pentest Alliance, belatedly released videos and posted on Telegram claiming responsibility for the attacks across Europe, publishing a sample of alleged hacked credentials that would've allowed them to access equipment including machines made by the Danish company Danfoss and the American company Copeland. Those machines can monitor and control temperature and other functions. The hacking groups have some history of targeting refrigeration controllers and other operational technology.
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