Iran was behind European fridge freezer hacking attack, French authorities say

French officials have accused Iran's Revolutionary Guards of the cyberattacks that knocked out commercial refrigerators and freezers across the country last month, and warned there will be consequences.The hacks that struck hundreds of supermarkets in early October were among the most disruptive cyberattacks since the Iran war began this February. These have included hacks against the Los Angeles transit system in March, US water treatment plants in July and ships bound for the US in August.Iran's mission to the United Nations did not return messages seeking comment and Tehran routinely denies carrying out malicious cyber operations.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the Iranian ambassador had been summoned to France's foreign ministry. Mr Barrot also threatened further EU sanctions against Iran, saying 'there will be consequences' following the attack.The October 11 cyber-attack, which overrode the temperature controls on commercial fridges in hundreds of establishments, appeared to have ​been easy to pull off, cyber-security experts previously told Reuters. The firm behind many of the stricken units said that several were obsolete or were running outdated firmware, which could have made it easy for hackers to break in. Cyber attackers hacked hundreds of supermarkets across France and defrosted their freezers last month The attackers programmed the refrigeration systems to blow hot air at 50C causing temperatures inside the fridges to reach 36C, meaning a huge quantity of produce had to be thrown awayThe effects were still dramatic. Some refrigerators had the temperature turned up so high they caught fire. The Paris prosecutor's office said the cyber-attack showed a methodology characteristic of the 'Shahid Kaveh Group', an elite offensive cyber unit believed to work in the service of the IRGC.It has requested international arrest warrants against the leader of the group, as well as his two deputies. An investigation into the fridge hacks showed the use of Farsi, and IP addresses pointed to devices located in Iran. Speaking after a G7 ministerial in Paris, Mr Barrot said that an investigation was still underway.In the hours following the hack, supermarket employees carted boxes full of perished meat and melted ice cream into giant trash containers. The attack's total costs could add up to tens of millions of euros nationwide, one French supermarket owner estimated.The hacks were followed this month by a second wave of hacking that hit more than 100 establishments across Europe and even affected refrigerators used by French blood banks, prompting employees there to have to move some of the blood to different cold storage units.The seemingly straightforward nature of the refrigerator hacks – and their repetition across multiple countries – prompted speculation about who might be responsible amid ongoing concerns over Russia's suspected sabotage campaign in Europe, the war between the US and Iran and the global rise of AI-powered cyberattacks.The sabotage of European supermarket fridges was preceded by at least one similar incident in the United States.In August, refrigerators in at least half a dozen military commissaries went out of commission. Pentagon investigators are treating the malfunctions as a suspected cyber-attack and are working with French officials to get to the bottom of what happened.A person familiar with the matter said that the Pentagon considers Iran a suspect in the August commissary hacks but that the investigation is still in progress.The Pentagon said on Monday that it is 'aware of speculation regarding a potential cyber incident' but that military investigators were on the case and it could not offer further comment for security reasons.In France, the attackers programmed refrigeration systems to blow hot air at 50C causing temperatures inside the fridges to reach 36C, meaning a huge quantity of produce had to be thrown away. The hack targeted thousands of refrigeration units across more than 700 retailers in France.Stores belonging to Carrefour, Monoprix, Intermarche and Cooperative U were among those attacked when attackers manually overrode fridge temperatures. Dominique Schelcher, chief executive of Cooperative U, described the attack as 'unprecedented'.He said: 'Targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products and to the food supply of the French people is extremely serious and is unprecedented. It is unacceptable.'This is a breaking news story. More to follow.