France: "Iran's Revolutionary Guard Behind Supermarket Refrigerator Hacks"

"Cyber Sabotage on an Unprecedented Scale"
Iran Suspected Behind Refrigerator Hacks in Europe and the U.S.

Reuters-Yonhap News

The French government has named Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the force behind a cyberattack on 700 supermarket locations nationwide last month. Iran is also suspected of being behind similar attacks on refrigerators in other European countries and the United States.

According to CNN, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said at a press briefing on November 9, local time, "We were able to confirm that the IRGC carried out this cyberattack." He criticized the attack, saying, "It was unprecedented in scale and sophistication, and the first large-scale cyberattack ever aimed at sabotaging our national territory." He added, "We will impose sanctions at the European level on everyone responsible for this attack," and stressed, "We will take whatever measures are necessary to deter anyone seeking to repeat this incident." The French government also summoned Iran's ambassador and lodged a strong protest.

The Paris prosecutor's office also said it had launched an investigation into the Revolutionary Guard. At a press conference that day, Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said, "The investigation into this hacking incident found that Persian was used and identified IP addresses pointing to devices located in Iran." She added that an investigation had been launched into the head of Shahid Kaveh, a cyberattack unit linked to the IRGC's Electronic and Cyber Center (IRGC-CEC), two of his subordinates, and other individuals who may be identifiable.

Last month, a cyberattack on supermarket refrigerators in France caused their temperatures to rise to 50 degrees Celsius, leading to the disposal of large quantities of food. This was followed by a series of cyberattacks that caused the temperature of blood product storage equipment at blood banks to rise to extremely high levels. With the IRGC named as the force behind the attacks, Iran is also suspected of being the main perpetrator behind similar refrigerator hacking incidents in Sweden, Belgium, and Ireland earlier this month, as well as a refrigerator malfunction at a U.S. military base last August.

Meanwhile, Iran has yet to issue an official response to France's accusation. Iran's mission to the United Nations has also not responded to requests for an official position or comment from various foreign media outlets.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.