France accuses Iran of cyberattack on 700 supermarket refrigerators

France has accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of a cyberattack that disrupted commercial refrigerators and freezers in about 700 supermarkets across the country in October. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the attack was unprecedented in magnitude and aggressiveness and announced plans to push for European sanctions against those responsible.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the investigation focuses on the head of the Iranian Shahid Kaveh group and two of his deputies, a unit linked to the Revolutionary Guards’ Electronic and Cyber Center. Investigators have requested international arrest warrants for several Iranian suspects.

“It is an attack of unprecedented magnitude and aggressiveness.”

Investigators detected Persian language use, IP addresses linked to devices in Iran, and a characteristic computer procedure associated with the group. The attackers exploited vulnerabilities in remote-control software for refrigeration systems made by Danish company Danfoss.

Once inside, the hackers activated abnormal and unlimited defrost cycles, pushing temperatures in some units up to 50 degrees Celsius. They also disabled security alarms on sensors meant to warn when temperatures exceeded set limits.

Some refrigerators caught fire after temperatures were raised too high. Supermarket employees threw away boxes of spoiled meat and melted ice cream, and one owner estimated total costs could reach tens of millions of euros nationwide.

A second wave this month hit more than 100 establishments across Europe, including refrigerators used by French blood banks, forcing staff to move some blood to different cold storage units.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to requests for comment. Iran routinely denies carrying out malicious cyber operations.