Europeupdated 16m ago2 min read
Iran Denies French Claims Of Cyberattacks On Supermarket Refrigeration Systems
“These baseless claims by the French government amount to a smokescreen for its weakness in governance”
“On Monday, the French authorities blamed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for the string of hacks”
This 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 on supermarket refrigeration systems. Iran rejects the allegations as baseless and politically motivated.
Save coverage image
France accuses, Iran denies
France accused Iran of cyberattacks that targeted refrigeration controllers at more than 700 retail sites in France on the night of Oct. 11-12, and the French Foreign Ministry said the attacks caused extensive material damage, fires and food losses estimated at tens of millions of euros.
Iran rejected the accusations, and Iran’s Foreign Ministry described the allegations as “baseless” while condemning what it called France’s “accusatory approach toward Tehran.”
France said it would summon Iran’s ambassador and seek new European Union sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities involved in the attacks, while Iran warned it would take measures it deemed necessary to protect its national interests and security against “unlawful” foreign actions.
The French authorities blamed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for hacks that raised the temperatures of supermarket fridges and freezers, and the French government summoned the Iranian ambassador to Paris to “lodge a very strong protest against this extremely grave act.”
Scope across Europe
The cyber-attacks led to the destruction of tons of frozen and chilled food, and similar hacks followed against supermarkets across several other European countries. It was not known if the instances were linked, while temperatures of the fridges reportedly rose to 50C (120F) overnight in some stores.
The attacks targeted software provided by Danish engineering firm Danfoss, and supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg were affected while a smaller number of shops were hit in countries including Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland. DW said the alleged attack began overnight on October 11-12 and raised the temperatures in supermarket refrigerators and freezer units, spoiling produce and causing fires in isolated instances, and DW reported that France summoned Tehran’s ambassador to discuss the incident.
Investigations and sanctions
France’s Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, said an investigation had been opened into the head of an offensive cyber unit associated with the IRGC and “his two deputies,” and the BBC reported that Beccuau named the unit as Shahid Kaveh. DW reported that Beccuau said her office had requested arrest warrants against two Shahid Kaveh officials and was investigating others, and DW described the entity as “an offensive cyber unit affiliated with the Electronic and Cyber Center of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
The French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot vowed sanctions against those responsible, and Barrot said the attack “marks the first large-scale cyber-attack aimed at sabotage on our national territory.” The EU said it would seek to provide a “swift and united response” pending discussion with member states, and POLITICO.eu reported that European Council President Kaja Kallas said the topic of alleged Iranian hacks would be discussed at next week’s European foreign affairs council.