Critical infrastructure is only as secure as the wider network of suppliers and systems on which it depends, a security expert has said following a cyberattack on three French blood banks earlier this week.
Initiated overnight on 2 November, the cyberattack targeted three cold-storage facilities managed by Coolworld on behalf of the French National Blood Establishment (EFS).
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In a statement issued on 3 November, the EFS outlined that the cyberattack raised temperature and defrost thresholds in refrigerators holding plasma to “extremely high levels”. However, monitoring and alarm systems detected the temperature deviations and staff were able to intervene before the blood supplies were spoiled. The attack’s culprits have not yet been identified.
The EFS is France’s national public blood transfusion operator. The authority collects, prepares, and distributes blood, plasma and platelets to more than 1,900 hospitals across the country.
The cyberattack on the blood banks shares parallels with a cyberattack on refrigerators at around 150 Intermarche supermarkets throughout France in October 2026. The attack also modified refrigeration temperatures, with tonnes of spoiled food resulting in significant financial impact.
Commenting on the EFS cyberattack, Shane Barney, chief information security officer at cybersecurity company Keeper Security, said: “While no products were lost, the potential consequences are a stark wake-up call.
“Following October’s attacks on supermarket refrigeration systems, this latest incident demonstrates how cyberattacks against Operational Technology (OT) can quickly escalate from digital disruption to threaten essential supplies and public safety.
“It also exposes a critical blind spot: the rush to modernise often leaves third-party connections unsecured. Too often, poorly managed remote IT access provides threat actors with a direct bridge into sensitive OT environments. persistent weakness in critical infrastructure security, in which organisations rapidly modernise but fail to secure the third parties, software and remote access arrangements connected to them.”
Healthcare sites remain a high-value target for cybercriminals, with further exacerbations seen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Attacks on healthcare sites
Notable attacks in UK health infrastructure in recent years include the June 2025 ransomware attack on Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust’s third-party pathology provider, Synnovis.
The attack, which also disrupted processes in several other NHS trusts in south London, was one of the most serious on UK national infrastructure in recent years. Terabytes of patient data were stolen and subsequently released online.
In addition, the breach wrought havoc on St Thomas’ daily operations, causing delays to blood test results and halting hundreds of scheduled patient medical procedures, from which St Thomas’ is still recovering.
On 3 November, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) cyber chief warned that unless resilience is enhanced, the nation could face artificial intelligence (AI)-powered attacks on critical infrastructure within two years.
