Europeupdated 19m ago2 min read
France Names Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Supermarket Fridge Cyberattack
11outlets comparedWhere the coverage agrees
9 Western Mainstream1 Other1 Western AlternativeThis article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
France accuses Iran’s IRGC of cyberattacks that disrupted refrigeration at about 700 supermarkets. France pledges European sanctions and has summoned the Iranian ambassador over the incident.
Save coverage image
France names Iran
France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot publicly named Iran as the sponsor of a cyberattack that targeted supermarket refrigeration systems, saying, "I can confirm that the responsibility for this attack lies with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran." France’s accusation followed the night of October 11 to 12, when investigators said the attack targeted "the refrigeration controllers of supermarket brands Danfoss and Dixemm" affecting about 700 French retail sites.
“I can confirm that the responsibility for this attack lies with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
France’s judicial process moved as Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said investigating judges were charged with a probe focusing on "the head of the Iranian Shahid Kaveh group" and "its two deputies." The European Union’s diplomatic service spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said the bloc was ready for a response, stating, "We take note of the fact that France attributed attacks to Iran."
Iran denies, Europe weighs
Iran rejected France’s accusations, describing them as "baseless and hostile" in response to claims that it was behind cyberattacks that raised the temperatures of supermarket fridges and freezers. Jean-Noël Barrot told FranceinfoTV that France "does not rule out anything" in its response and said it would take measures "including those we will not publicly disclose" to deter new attacks and sanction the authors.
The French government said it summoned the Iranian ambassador to Paris to lodge a protest, while the Paris prosecutor said an investigation had been opened into the head of an offensive cyber unit associated with the IRGC. The European Union said EU foreign ministers were due to discuss the issue at their next meeting planned for Monday in Brussels, and Anouar El Anouni said the EU would continue to address the behavior using tools including "sanctions."
Scale, sanctions, and next steps
France said the attack was unprecedented in scale and aggression, with Barrot describing it as "the first large-scale cyber-attack aimed at sabotage on our national territory." Barrot also said France would impose European-scale sanctions, and he told reporters that the government had summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest the act very strongly.
The European Union said it was ready to provide a rapid and united response, with Anouar El Anouni stating, "provide a rapid and united response" after France accused Iran of being behind the cyberattacks. The French investigation described an attack pattern that included remotely controlling equipment via web interfaces to launch abnormal defrost cycles for an unlimited duration, while disabling security alerts from probes that should activate beyond a certain temperature.