Iran was behind cyber-attack on French supermarket freezers, Paris says

France has blamed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for cyberattacks that remotely altered refrigeration controls in as many as 700 supermarkets and shops on 11 and 12 October. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the operation unprecedented in scale and aggression, said it violated French national interests, and promised European sanctions. Prosecutors said investigators traced a pattern of activity to Shahid Kaveh, an Iranian cyberwarfare unit, citing Farsi-language traces and internet addresses linked to devices in Iran. France has opened an investigation into the unit’s leader, deputies and other possible participants on charges including organized cybercrime and causing damage that endangered people.

The hackers raised freezer and chiller temperatures from as low as -27C to above 50C, forcing stores to discard thousands of tons of food. In some locations, the heat triggered fires and sprinklers, causing water damage. Similar refrigeration-system incidents have since been reported in 11 European countries, and hackers accessed cold-storage controls at a French blood bank; alarms allowed staff to disconnect the equipment before blood products were lost. The connection between that incident and the supermarket attacks remains unclear. A French cybersecurity specialist warned that the group has previously targeted water systems and that attacks could extend to critical infrastructure such as water or electricity. The allegations come as the EU, having recently designated the IRGC a terrorist organization, considers how to respond.