France blames Iran Revolutionary Guards for supermarket fridge cyberattacks

Attacks target French supermarkets

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps carried out the hacks on October 11 and 12. The attacks remotely raised temperatures in commercial fridges across hundreds of establishments in France. Some units caught fire while others forced staff to discard spoiled meat and melted ice cream. French prosecutors opened a judicial investigation against the head of an Iranian cyber unit named Shahid Kaveh.

France summons Iranian ambassador

Paris summoned Iran's ambassador to the foreign ministry immediately after making the attribution on Monday evening. Barrot stated France would implement sanctions at the European level against all responsible parties for this aggression. French prosecutors also named two deputies of the accused unit as targets of the ongoing probe. This incident marks one of the most disruptive cyberattacks during the war with Iran that began in February.

Second wave hits Europe

A second wave of hacking followed this month and hit more than 100 establishments across multiple European countries. French blood bank refrigerators were impacted by the attacks, causing staff to transfer blood into alternative cold storage facilities. Security researchers warned that web-based controllers for some affected models no longer receive security fixes from manufacturer Danfoss. A single supermarket proprietor suggested that expenses might reach tens of millions of euros across the country in total.