France accuses Iran’s Revolutionary Guard over supermarket fridge cyberattack

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guard of being behind a recent cyberattack on refrigeration systems at French supermarkets, Reuters reported. He said there would be consequences for Iran.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had requested international arrest warrants for the head of Shahid Kaveh, a cyber unit affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, and his two deputies, according to Reuters. The warrants have been requested, not reported as issued.

An attack on 11 October overrode temperature controls at hundreds of establishments in France, Reuters reported. Some refrigerators caught fire and food spoiled. A further wave in November hit more than 100 establishments across Europe and affected refrigerators used by French blood banks.

Reuters said it could not independently establish whether the French attack and the later European incidents were linked. It is not clear which incidents outside France are covered by Barrot’s accusation.

Earlier on Monday, Reuters had reported, citing two people familiar with the matter, that French officials suspected Iranian state-backed hackers of the October attack. The agency said it could not establish how the French authorities reached that assessment. Iran’s mission to the United Nations had not responded to requests for comment before the public accusation was reported.

France’s cyber-security agency, CERT-FR, warned in October that numerous remote refrigeration controllers had been compromised. It advised operators to remove affected equipment from public internet access and restore access through a secure network. The alert did not identify a perpetrator.