Paris:A new wave of cyberattacks has struck Europe, impacting multiple countries by targeting supermarket refrigerators, banks, and blood storage facilities in France. These incidents have caused economic damage and heightened concerns about public security.
According to Thai News Agency, the French Ministry of Health reported that several blood service centers across various regions experienced cyberattacks affecting the remote monitoring systems of blood storage facilities. Fortunately, there was no impact on the country's blood reserves, and authorities have managed to bring the situation under control by temporarily suspending remote access to the refrigeration systems. An investigation is currently underway to uncover the methods used in these attacks.
Alongside these events, France's Crédit Moutouel Archaia was also targeted, leading the bank to suspend some services. The bank has since regained control of the situation and is assessing the damage. However, it maintains that the incident will not compromise its financial stability.
The cyberattacks on France occurred concurrently with similar incidents in eight other European countries, where refrigerators were compromised, resulting in many retailers discarding large quantities of food. This is reminiscent of attacks that affected French supermarkets several weeks prior.
Experts indicate that hackers are escalating their operations by exploiting easily guessable default passwords on open networks. This vulnerability arises from connecting devices to the public internet without sufficient protection. They also note that with the assistance of AI, even novices can now conduct such hacks with relative ease.
The incidents have raised significant concern throughout the European Union, highlighting vulnerabilities in internet-connected infrastructure amid increased security tensions following the 2022-1923 conflict between Russia and Ukraine.