France blames Iran for cyberattack on 700 supermarkets

French officials have accused Iran's Revolutionary Guards of carrying out a series of large-scale cyberattacks on supermarket refrigerators in France last month. The attacks, which began on October 11 and 12, targeted hundreds of sites and caused refrigerators to overheat, leading to the disposal of perishable food. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot confirmed that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was responsible for the unprecedented cyber assault.

The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into the IRGC's Shahid Kaveh cyber unit, also known as CyberAveng3rs, which is believed to have orchestrated the attacks. Barrot vowed that France would impose sanctions at the European level against those responsible for the attacks. Other European countries have reported similar incidents, with grocery stores in at least nine nations hit by suspected cyberattacks in November.

The attacks have raised concerns about the growing threat of cyber warfare and the risk of attacks from countries like Iran, while European officials have warned of the potential for cyberattacks during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.