France blames Iran's Revolutionary Guards for crippling 700 supermarket fridges; envoy summoned, EU sanctions sought

France formally confirmed on November 9 that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind the cyberattack that crippled refrigeration systems at about 700 supermarkets on October 11-12. France summoned Iran's ambassador on November 10 to deliver a formal protest and said it would push for European Union sanctions; Paris prosecutors opened a judicial investigation into the attack the same day.

700 supermarkets' fridges warmed up; fresh food thrown away

The attack took place on the night of October 11-12, when hackers remotely took control of supermarkets' refrigeration systems, driving refrigerator and freezer temperatures abnormally high and triggering defrost cycles. The roughly 700 commercial sites affected included chains such as Intermarché, Coopérative U, Carrefour, Leclerc and Monoprix; large quantities of fresh food had to be discarded, with losses estimated in the tens of millions of euros, and fires were reported at some sites. About 700 of France's roughly 10,000 supermarkets were affected.

Paris names the Revolutionary Guards' cyber unit

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven foreign ministers' meeting in Paris, said: 'I can confirm that this attack was carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran.' He called it 'the first large-scale cyberattack aimed at sabotage on French national territory', unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression. France's cybersecurity agency attributed the attack to a unit known as Shahid Kaveh, which also operates under the name CyberAveng3rs and is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards' Electronic and Cyber Centre.

Prosecutors open a case; France warns it may answer with cyber measures

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced a judicial investigation into the head of Shahid Kaveh and two of his deputies, for organised cybercrime with the aggravating circumstance of having been committed to serve the interests of a foreign power — in this case, Iran. Barrot said France would seek sanctions at the European level against all those responsible and would take whatever measures are necessary and proportionate to respond and deter further attacks, including some it would not discuss publicly. Similar refrigeration-system disruptions have since been reported in 11 other European countries. Iran has not responded to the accusation. Sources: Reuters; Agence France-Presse; France's cybersecurity agency.