French officials blame Iran for refrigerator hacks, vow retaliation

French officials have accused Iran's Revolutionary Guards of orchestrating a series of disruptive cyberattacks that crippled commercial refrigerators and freezers across France last month. The attack, which targeted hundreds of French supermarkets in early October, serves as one of the most significant cyber incidents during the ongoing Iran conflict since February.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to requests for comment, and the Iranian government routinely denies involvement in malicious cyber operations.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot summoned the Iranian ambassador to France's foreign ministry and threatened additional EU sanctions against Iran. The hack resulted in dramatic consequences, with some refrigerators set to such high temperatures that they ignited fires. Supermarket employees found themselves carting boxes filled with perished meat and melted ice cream to waste disposal containers. The total costs of the attack could reach tens of millions of euros across France.

Following the initial hack, a second wave of hacking targeted over 100 establishments across Europe, including refrigerators used by French blood banks. Employees had to relocate some blood samples to alternative cold storage units. The French government attributed the hacking campaign to Shahid Kaveh, a cyber offensive unit linked to the Revolutionary Guards. Three alleged associates - Hamid Reza Lashgarian, Mahdi Lashgarian, and Reza Salarvand - were named in a joint report from French spy and cyber agencies.