France Opens Legal Case Against Iran Over Supermarket Fridge Hack
Paris opened a formal investigation into the October cyber attack that damaged goods in roughly 700 stores.
By Yasmin Farouk ·
France formally accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of orchestrating the cyber attack that disabled commercial refrigeration equipment last month. The move follows a period of speculation regarding the origin of the disruption, which left supermarket employees discarding spoiled food across the country.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot summoned the Iranian ambassador to the foreign ministry to convey the complaint. He described the incident as an attack of unprecedented scale and aggressiveness. According to Barrot, it was the first large-scale cyber attack aimed at sabotage on French soil. He stated that the event represents a major threat to national interests and the security of French people, and that it will not go unanswered.
Barrot indicated that France intends to pursue additional measures, including potential European Union sanctions against Tehran. He vowed to take any other actions needed to respond to the incident and deter future attacks. Iran has routinely denied carrying out malicious cyber operations in the past.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that a formal judicial investigation opened on Monday. The probe targets suspected organized cybercrime with the aggravating circumstance of being committed to serve the interests of a foreign power. The investigation specifically names the leader of Shahid Kaveh, an Iranian cyber unit affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It also covers his two deputies and any other persons identified in connection with the case.
Investigators found that the attackers used Farsi and IP addresses linked to devices located in Iran. Beccuau noted that the Paris prosecutor’s office is seeking international arrest warrants. Cybersecurity experts told Reuters that the attack appeared easy to execute because many of the stricken units were obsolete or running outdated firmware.
The cyber attack occurred on October 11 and overrode temperature controls in hundreds of establishments. Some fridges had their temperature switched up so high that they caught fire. Around 700 of France’s 10,000 supermarkets were affected. Employees carted boxes of perished meat and melted ice cream into large waste containers in the hours following the hack. One French supermarket owner estimated the total cost of the attack could amount to tens of millions of euros nationwide.
Last week, a separate cyber attack targeted several blood banks in France, attempting to raise temperatures to extreme levels. Officials intercepted the attack before it damaged blood products or samples. France’s national cybersecurity agency and Paris prosecutors are investigating that incident as well. Supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, and Estonia also reported freezer and fridge problems last week that appeared to be caused by cyber attacks.
