France Blames IRGC Cyber Unit for Hack on Supermarket Refrigerators

The Paris Prosecutor’s Office announced on Monday, November 9, that investigations into a cyberattack targeting supermarket refrigerators and freezers across France had led to the “Shahid Kaveh” cyber group, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Concurrently, France’s Foreign Minister held the IRGC responsible for the attacks and announced potential European sanctions against those involved.

Jean-Noël Barrot, Foreign Minister of France, stated on Monday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Paris that, according to assessments by French government agencies, the IRGC was responsible for the cyberattack.

He announced that, in response to the attack, the European Union would impose sanctions against the individuals and entities responsible. Barrot also confirmed that the ambassador of the Islamic Republic to France had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry.

The French Foreign Minister stated that 700 food distribution centers were affected by the attack.

The Paris Prosecutor’s Office also noted in a statement that the method of execution of the attacks matched the operational pattern of the “Shahid Kaveh” group, an offensive cyber unit linked to the IRGC. The judicial authority requested international arrest warrants for the head of the group and his two deputies.

According to the prosecutor’s office, investigations identified the use of the Persian language and IP addresses linked to certain entities in Iran.

The Paris Prosecutor’s Office had previously announced on October 12 that hackers had tampered with network-connected systems governing refrigerators and freezers across several major food retail stores in France, raising their temperatures to 50 degrees Celsius. The attack resulted in fires in some stores and spoiled large quantities of food products.