France has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of carrying out a major cyberattack that disrupted refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets across the country.
The attack occurred on Oct. 12, when hackers remotely accessed refrigeration systems at approximately 700 supermarket locations, causing temperatures to climb to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) for around 6 hours.
Stores were forced to discard large quantities of fresh and frozen food, while the incident also triggered approximately 20 fires, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.
French authorities said the country’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) traced the operation to a group known as Shahid Kaveh, described as a cyber unit affiliated with the IRGC. Investigators said the attackers used Persian-language settings and internet protocol (IP) addresses associated with devices in Iran.
Paris prosecutors opened a formal judicial investigation Monday into suspected organized cybercrime carried out in the interests of a foreign power. The probe is targeting the group’s alleged leader, 2 deputies and other individuals who may have been involved. Prosecutors are also seeking international arrest warrants.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the Iranian ambassador had been summoned to receive a formal protest over the attack. He described it as an unprecedented act of cyber sabotage against French interests and said France would pursue sanctions at the European level against those responsible.
Supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland and Estonia also reported problems involving refrigeration systems in recent weeks. However, officials have not established that those incidents were connected to the French attack.
The FBI has separately warned of malicious cyber activity targeting industrial refrigeration and cold-chain monitoring systems worldwide, urging organizations to protect internet-connected controllers from unauthorized access.