Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Monday that the attacks, carried out on 11 and 12 October, affected approximately 700 food distribution sites. Hackers remotely manipulated refrigeration controls, raising temperatures and forcing retailers to discard perishable products.
Barrot described the operation as unprecedented in its scale and aggression, calling it the first major cyberattack intended to sabotage infrastructure on French territory. He said France had summoned Iran’s ambassador to lodge a formal protest and would consider further proportionate measures, whether publicly disclosed or not.
The accusation marks a significant escalation in Paris’s response to the disruption, moving from technical investigation to direct diplomatic action against Tehran. European Union sanctions would require agreement through the bloc’s established procedures; no new measures had been formally adopted when Barrot spoke.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau separately announced a judicial investigation targeting Shahid Kaveh, an offensive cyber unit that French authorities say is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards’ Electronic and Cyber Centre. Prosecutors have sought international arrest warrants for the unit’s leader, two deputies and other suspects who may be identified during the investigation.
The investigation concerns suspected organised cybercrime committed in the interests of a foreign power. Authorities have not publicly established the identities of all those who allegedly accessed the refrigeration networks, and the allegations remain subject to judicial examination.
French investigators pointed to technical indicators including the use of Farsi and internet addresses associated with equipment in Iran. Such indicators form part of the attribution presented by French authorities, rather than a judicial finding of responsibility. Tehran had not publicly responded to Monday’s specific accusation, and Iran has previously denied conducting malicious cyber operations.
The attacks exposed vulnerabilities in remotely managed commercial refrigeration equipment. Intruders reportedly activated defrost functions and altered temperature settings, disrupting systems designed to preserve chilled and frozen food. Some cabinets reached temperatures as high as 50 degrees Celsius, according to accounts of the investigation.
Retailers consequently faced losses from spoiled stock and interruptions to normal trading. Supermarket chains affected included Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarché and Coopérative U. The scale of the financial damage across the sector has not been independently established, although individual operators have described substantial losses.
The disruption also raised concerns about the safety of connected equipment beyond conventional computer networks. Refrigeration controls are operational systems whose manipulation can damage goods and interrupt essential services even when attackers do not steal customer information or shut down an organisation’s central information technology systems.
Barrot made his announcement alongside diplomatic meetings in Paris involving Group of Seven foreign ministers. He said France intended to seek penalties at European level against everyone responsible and warned that additional responses could follow. He did not specify the proposed sanctions, identify potential targets or provide a timetable for their introduction.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the response should be strong after learning of France’s attribution. Her remarks signalled concern in Brussels, but did not constitute a decision by EU governments to impose penalties.
The October attacks were followed by reports of similar refrigeration failures elsewhere in Europe. Supermarkets in Belgium, Sweden and other countries encountered disruption on 2 November, prompting inquiries into whether their equipment had been deliberately compromised. French officials have not established publicly that every incident outside France was directed by the same perpetrators.
Investigators are also examining separate interference involving refrigeration equipment used by France’s blood collection service. The reported attempt heightened concern because temperature controls are important for preserving medical supplies, although authorities have not demonstrated that it formed part of the same operation attributed to the Iranian unit.
The French investigation has focused partly on remotely accessible control software used in commercial refrigeration installations. Equipment manufacturer Danfoss said older or inadequately updated versions of its software were implicated in some incidents. A separate, smaller wave affected equipment supplied by Dixell, but the attribution of that activity remains unclear.
The incidents have prompted questions about software maintenance and remote access safeguards in supermarket facilities, where individual stores often rely on specialised contractors and networked monitoring tools to manage cooling equipment. The investigation continues under the authority of the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Follow Arabian Post
Select Arabian Post as your preferred source on Google and MSN News for trusted business news and Arab politics and updates.
