Trail of Iran’s fridge hackers traced to US equipment

Iranian hackers, operating through military unit Shahid Kaveh, targeted supermarket refrigeration systems in Europe by exploiting vulnerabilities in equipment also used in the United States and the United Kingdom. French authorities are investigating the cyber attack, which affected around 700 retail outlets. US authorities have offered a $10 million reward for information regarding Shahid Kaveh's activities.

The hacking of programmable logic controllers, which control industrial machinery, was first reported in late 2023. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI, UK's National Crime Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, Israel's National Cyber Directorate, and Canada's Centre for Cyber Security jointly issued a warning regarding Shahid Kaveh's compromise of Unitronics PLCs.

These controllers, used in various industries including refrigeration, have been repeatedly targeted. In a separate attack this year, more PLCs were compromised with similarities to the earlier incident, potentially affecting critical infrastructure. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre alerted energy companies after Shahid Kaveh caused a shutdown in a plant in July.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero stated that the attack did not pose a significant risk to the overall energy system. A Tenable report revealed that CyberAv3ngers, linked to the hackers, has repeatedly targeted small water utilities, municipal facilities, and rural energy operators due to lax remote access protocols.