Binance co-CEO Richard Teng told FOX Business’ Darren Botelho that customers will not bear any losses following a massive $6.3 billion hack. Teng emphasizes that the cryptocurrency exchange takes full responsibility and has replenished the affected assets.
This week, hackers targeted the refrigeration systems of three regional blood banks in France, raising concerns about the security of essential medical supplies, as similar cyberattacks disrupted supermarkets across Europe.
Officials said Wednesday that the cyberattack against the French Blood Establishment (EFS) occurred overnight from Sunday to Monday.
“Several regional facilities of the French Blood Establishment were affected by a cybersecurity incident which impacted certain monitoring and control systems of cold rooms,” indicates the Ministry of Health in a press release.
Despite the attack, officials said blood supplies were not affected after employees received alerts and quickly moved products to refrigerators that were not connected to the compromised systems.
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Hackers targeted refrigeration systems used to store blood products at three French blood banks, prompting employees to move supplies to unaffected units. (Reuters/Jose Vargas Esguerra / Reuters)
“We are staffed 24 hours a day because blood may be needed at any time,” EFS spokesperson Charley Dubois told Reuters. “They were notified of the problems through alerts and transferred the blood to other refrigerators that were not connected.”
The Health Ministry said Wednesday the situation was under control, noting that remote access to affected refrigeration systems had been disabled.
Authorities are investigating how the attack was carried out, what equipment may have been hit and when the systems can be safely returned to service.
The incident coincided with cyberattacks targeting supermarket refrigeration systems in eight European countries, forcing retailers to throw away large quantities of food products.
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Cyberattacks targeting supermarket refrigeration systems across Europe have forced retailers to throw away large quantities of perishable goods. (Reuters/Marie Mannes / Reuters)
In Belgium and Luxembourg, around 40 Delhaize supermarkets were affected, while other incidents were reported in Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland, according to the BBC.
The attacks reportedly caused some refrigeration systems to switch to defrost mode, thereby increasing the temperature and spoiling the refrigerated products.
The latest incidents follow a major cyberattack on French supermarkets last month, when hackers manipulated the refrigeration systems of hundreds of stores, forcing retailers to throw away large quantities of perishable goods.
Large chains including Carrefour, Monoprix, Les Mousquetaires, E. Leclerc and Coopérative U were affected by this incident.
Some stores reported refrigerator temperatures reaching 122 degrees Fahrenheit, leading to significant food loss.
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Hackers have already manipulated the refrigeration systems of hundreds of French supermarkets, causing temperatures to rise and forcing retailers to throw away spoiled food. (iStock/iStock)
In the United States, the Army Criminal Investigative Division’s Cyber Field Office is also working with the Defense Commissary Agency and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service to determine the cause of refrigeration outages at at least six military commissaries in August. Commissaries are grocery stores located on military installations that serve military personnel and their families.
Former FBI Special Agent Nicole Parker previously warned in an interview with Fox News Digital that cyberattacks targeting grocery stores and other essential services could also take place in the United States.
Following the incidents in Europe, she warned that the systems Americans rely on for food and other necessities could be vulnerable to similar attacks.
“What we are seeing now is happening in Europe and elsewhere, but it may very well happen on our soil,” Parker said.
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Stepheny Price, Brooke Curto and Robert McGreevy of Fox News Digital and Reuters contributed to this report.
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