Caught? France accuses Iran's Revolutionary Guards of hacking supermarket refrigerators, plans to call for EU sanctions

French Foreign Minister Bahou announced that after verification by government agencies and specialized investigators, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was confirmed to be the mastermind behind the hacking attack on refrigeration equipment in supermarkets across Europe last month. (Reuters file photo)

The French government has officially made a major decision on the hacking attack on supermarket refrigeration equipment that shocked Europe last month. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced at a press briefing held during the G7 summit in Paris that after verification by government agencies and specialized investigators, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was confirmed to be the mastermind behind the attack.

The Guardian reported that Bajo severely condemned this as an "unprecedented act of aggression on an unprecedented scale" and constituted a major violation of the country's vital interests. France has officially summoned the Iranian ambassador to France to express its strongest protest and will promote Europe-wide sanctions to punish those involved.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau further elaborated on the details of the investigation, stating that investigators had identified the "modus operandi" of Iran's cyber forces. The attack was launched by "Shahid Kaveh", a cyber warfare unit affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

The investigation found that the attack operations used Farsi codes, and the IP addresses tracked were all located in Iran. The Paris Prosecutor's Office has officially opened an investigation into the head of the unit and related suspects. The charges include "fraudulent attacks on automated data processing systems within the framework of an organized crime group" and "causing damage that endangers personal safety". The charges are increased by "loyalty to a foreign power (Iran)".

Information security experts pointed out that "Shahid Kaveh" has been quite active since 2020 and in the past mainly launched cyber attacks against the water distribution system of the United States.

From October 11 to 12, hackers remotely invaded the digital thermostats of as many as 700 supermarkets in France and forcibly raised the temperature of thousands of freezers and refrigerators from the original minus 27 degrees Celsius to over 50 degrees Celsius. Not only did thousands of tons of fresh food rot and be scrapped, but extreme temperature differences caused fires and sprinkler systems in some stores, causing serious financial losses.

In addition to supermarkets, hackers also later targeted the French Blood Bank (EFS), which stores blood products. Fortunately, technicians cut off the power through the alarm system in time, preventing a blood scrap disaster.

However, this wave of cyber attacks did not stop in France, and subsequently affected the refrigeration systems of 11 European countries, including the United Kingdom, Belgium, Estonia, and Sweden. In addition, French bank Crédit Mutuel has also suffered a cyber attack recently, resulting in losses of more than 100 million euros (part of the funds has been recovered).

In response to France's latest accusations and verification results, Kaja Kallas, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said that the EU will have a serious discussion at the foreign ministers' meeting on the 16th. If the cyber attack is determined to originate from Iran, the EU will take strong joint response measures. The European Union officially designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization earlier this year.