The Cold Chain Is a Target

Somebody tried to turn France's blood supply up to boiling. Overnight Sunday into Monday, hackers got into the refrigeration controls for France's national blood service and reprogrammed the freezers holding donor plasma. The dial moved from minus 30 degrees toward 110. An on-call technician caught the temperature climbing, and the health ministry says no blood was lost. But plasma for transfusions has to stay at minus 25 or colder, and that night, that was not guaranteed. The same weekend, supermarket freezers across eight European countries were pushed toward 50 degrees, and food spoiled. Three weeks earlier, around 700 French supermarkets were hit, some hard enough to catch fire. Here is the part that should worry you. There was no malware and no ransom. The attackers reached controllers that were sitting exposed on the internet and used the machines' own legitimate controls. France's cybersecurity agency told operators to take those controllers offline weeks ago. Thousands are still reachable. The cold chain that keeps food fresh and blood viable is now a front line, and the fix is known. It just has not been done. Sources: Cyber Press, Hackers Target France's Blood Plasma Freezers: https://cyberpress.org/hackers-target-frances-blood-plasma-freezers/ SecurityAffairs, Cyberattack Hits French Blood Banks (Reuters reporting): https://securityaffairs.com/202431/hacking/cyberattack-hits-french-blood-banks-as-hackers-target-refrigeration-systems-across-europe.html That's your SignalWatch, from Ashfires Press.