France blames Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for fridge hack

On Monday, Nov. 9, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps carried out the October cyberattack that took control of refrigeration systems in French supermarkets. He promised sanctions at the European level, and the Paris prosecutor's office named the Iranian cyber unit it believes was responsible. It is the first time France has publicly blamed a state for the hack. Before that, the culprit had been unknown.

"Thanks to the outstanding work of the government departments, I am able to confirm that responsibility for this attack lies with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards," Barrot told reporters at a G7 meeting in Paris, according to Politico. He said about 700 food distribution sites in France were affected. He described the hack as an attack of "unprecedented scale" and "unprecedented aggressiveness," and he said Iran's ambassador had been summoned, CNN reported.cnn.com+1

Prosecutors target Shahid Kaveh

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said she has opened a judicial investigation into "the head of the Iranian group 'Shahid Kaveh'" and his two deputies. Prosecutors describe the group as an offensive cyber unit linked to the IRGC's Electronic and Cyber Center. They also asked for international arrest warrants, Ouest-France reported. The charges include fraudulent access to computer systems by an organized group and damage by means dangerous to people. Both are aggravated because they were allegedly committed "to serve a foreign power, in this case Iran," according to Libération.liberation.fr+1

Barrot said the attack followed methods typical of Shahid Kaveh. Investigators also found the hackers used Farsi and that IP addresses led to devices in Iran, the Daily Mail reported. Le Figaro had first reported that French intelligence linked the attack to the IRGC, Anadolu Agency noted. Earlier on Monday, Reuters reported exclusively that French officials suspected Iranian state-backed hackers. Tehran routinely denies carrying out cyber operations, and it had not responded to France's accusation, CNN said.reuters.com+3

Spoiled food and a second wave

The attack took place overnight from Oct. 11 to Oct. 12. It overrode temperature controls on commercial fridges, and some units got so hot they caught fire. Staff had to throw away spoiled meat and melted ice cream, Reuters reported. One supermarket owner estimated that losses nationwide could reach tens of millions of euros. Experts said many of the targeted units were obsolete or ran outdated firmware.reuters.com

In early November, a second wave hit more than 100 sites across Europe, including refrigerators used by French blood banks, Reuters said. Supermarkets in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden were among those affected, per Libération.liberation.fr+1

If confirmed, the French hack would rank among the most disruptive cyberattacks of the US-Iran war that began in February. Reuters also reported that the Pentagon considers Iran a suspect in fridge failures at US military commissaries in August, though it could not establish whether that incident is linked to the attacks in Europe.