French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of orchestrating unprecedented cyberattacks against supermarket refrigerators and freezers across France last month. The attacks, which took place on October 11 and 12, targeted refrigeration controllers at approximately 700 retail sites, though some reports indicate more than 1,000 stores were hit.
The cyberattacks involved raising temperatures in the middle of the night, spoiling millions of dollars worth of perishable food and forcing supermarkets to discard entire inventories. Paris prosecutors noted that the attacks also caused fires in some instances. The operation has been described as an attack of unprecedented scope and aggressiveness carried out to serve a foreign power.
The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into Shahid Kaveh, a cyber unit affiliated with the IRGC. Following the determination that the attacks were carried out by Iranian state-backed hackers, Minister Barrot summoned the Iranian ambassador to France.
France has vowed to implement sanctions at the European level against all those responsible for the hacks. Minister Barrot stated that there would be consequences for Iran, noting that the military-led attacks also targeted industrial refrigerated and freezer units across wider Europe.