France's foreign minister says Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind an October cyberattack that raised temperatures in supermarket refrigeration systems across France.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
France has accused Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of being behind cyberattacks that raised the temperatures of supermarket fridges and freezers across the country last month.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the attack was "unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression". He said the attack "marks the first large-scale cyber-attack aimed at sabotage on our national territory, and it constitutes a major attack on the nation's interests and the security of the French people".
Barrot said France had summoned the Iranian ambassador to Paris to "lodge a very strong protest against this extremely grave act". He added that France will take "any other necessary and proportionate measures" to respond to the incident and "deter anyone who might seek to repeat it".
The Paris prosecutor said an investigation had been opened into the head of an offensive cyber unit associated with the IRGC as well as his two deputies. Laure Beccuau named the unit as Shahid Kaveh, which she said had an affiliation with the electronic and cyber centre of the IRGC.
French magistrates will probe allegations of two offences: fraudulent access to an automated data-processing system by an organised criminal group; and damage to such a system by an organised criminal group, the prosecutor's office said. "Both offences are aggravated by the fact that they were committed with the aim of serving a foreign power, in this case Iran," it added.
On 11 October, hackers gained control of the software that regulates the temperatures of the refrigeration units used in many of France's supermarkets. More than 100 of Coopérative U's supermarkets were hit, as well as 180 stores from Intermarché and its Netto brand. In some stores, temperatures of the fridges reportedly rose to 50C (120F) overnight.
Other major food retailers including Carrefour, Monoprix and E.Leclerc were also hit by the attack, which targeted software provided by Danish engineering firm Danfoss. The software allows retailers to manage their cold units remotely.
More than 700 retail sites across France were targeted in an overnight cyber attack on October 11 to 12 targeting their fridge systems, causing tens of millions of euros' worth of food losses and the outbreak of at least 20 fires as temperatures were remotely increased to as high as 80C.
The incidents have occurred at a time of rising public concern that advances in AI technology will drive a wave of cyber attacks. However, it is not known whether AI tools were used in the freezer attacks. Attacks on industrial hardware such as freezers and water pumps, known in the cyber security industry as operational technology or OT, have been documented since the early 2000s but typically required highly specialised knowledge. OT cyber security specialists say they have never seen hundreds of similar devices attacked at the same time, as happened in France last month.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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