France accuses Iran's Guards of refrigeration cyberattacks
France says a cyber unit linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard remotely attacked refrigeration controllers at about 700 commercial sites on the night of 11-12 Oct. The government says units were heated by as much as 50 degrees Celsius, spoiling food and sparking at least 15 fires, with damage in the tens of millions. Affected chains include Intermarché, E. Leclerc, Carrefour, Monoprix and Coopérative U. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has summoned Iran's ambassador and is seeking European sanctions. Iran denies responsibility and calls the accusations baseless. The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation and is seeking international arrest warrants.
Key facts
- Investigators say Farsi language use and IP addresses point to devices located in Iran.
- A French report names Hamid Reza Lashgarian, Mahdi Lashgarian and Reza Salarvand as alleged associates.
- The US Treasury sanctioned Hamid Reza Lashgarian in February 2024 and offered a bounty of up to 10 million dollars on him in August.
- Similar incidents were reported in at least 11 other European countries in early November.
Summarised with AI from 5 sources · Updated 21:10Read our AI policy
Why it matters
State-linked attacks on food refrigeration equipment raise concern about the security of commercial and critical systems.
What changed
Summary updated
Summary updated
Summary updated
First published from The Straits Times, Al Jazeera English, DR Nyheder, SVT Nyheter and Anadolu Agency