France Accuses Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of Unprecedented Cyberattacks on Supermarkets
The attacks, which took place on October 11 and 12, affected around 700 supermarket sites, raising temperatures inside refrigerators and forcing some stores to discard entire inventories of perishable food.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – France on Monday accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of carrying out large-scale cyberattacks targeting supermarket refrigeration systems across the country last month, announcing plans to impose sanctions at the European level against those responsible.
The attacks, which took place on October 11 and 12, affected around 700 supermarket sites, raising temperatures inside refrigerators and forcing some stores to discard entire inventories of perishable food.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed that the attacks were carried out by the IRGC, describing them as unprecedented in both scale and aggression.
He said the incident marked the first large-scale cyberattack aimed at sabotage on French territory, calling it a major threat to the country's national interests and public security.
"We will implement sanctions at the European level against all those responsible," Barrot said.
Separately, the Paris prosecutor's office announced that it had opened an investigation into an Iranian cyber unit affiliated with the IRGC over the attacks.
Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said a judicial investigation had been launched targeting the head of the Iranian group Shahid Kaveh, described as an offensive cyber unit affiliated with the IRGC's Electronic and Cyber Centre (IRGC-CEC), along with two deputies and any other individuals who may be identified.
Meanwhile, similar incidents have been reported elsewhere in Europe. On November 2, grocery stores across at least nine other European countries were reportedly affected by a suspected cyberattack targeting freezer systems.