In mid-October, hidden hands reached into the cold rooms of roughly seven hundred French food sites, quietly turning up the temperature on everything meant to stay frozen and leaving spoiled goods and, in at least fifteen places, fire behind them. France has now named a likely author: an Iranian state-linked cyber unit operating behind a curtain of vigilante-sounding fronts. The episode sits in a long human story about how ordinary systems we never think about, the refrigerator humming in a supermarket, are now battlefields where distant powers test one another. What remains unsettled is how f
France Attributes Cyberattacks That Spoiled Food at 700 Grocery Sites to Iran's IRGC
Fires were started at at least 15 sites and food losses reached tens of millions of euros, though no blood products were lost at French blood-storage facilities.
Refrigeration controllers began behaving as though someone else was running them
Mark
Start with the basics. What actually happened to the refrigerators?
Mimi
Starting October 11, hackers got into refrigeration controllers at about 700 food distribution sites in France and changed the defrost settings. Temperatures rose, food spoiled, and at least 15 fires started.
Mark
And France is saying Iran did this?
Mimi
The foreign minister and the Paris prosecutor's office are. They name a unit called Shahid Kaveh, allegedly tied to the IRGC's Electronic and Cyber Center, working behind fronts like CyberAveng3rs and Cyber Isnaad Front.
Luke
Worth being clear that this is the French authorities' attribution. The reporting here doesn't show the evidence behind it. We have their statement, not their forensics.
Mark
Fair. Is there anything concrete beyond the accusation?
Mimi
Yes, legal steps. A criminal investigation is open, prosecutors have requested international arrest warrants, and a government report names three officials: Hamid Reza Lashgarian, Mahdi Lashgarian and Reza Salarvand.
Luke
Requested, though, not issued or executed. And naming people in a report isn't the same as charging them.
Mark
What about the cost?
Mimi
The Foreign Ministry says tens of millions of euros in food losses. The BBC separately reported millions of euros of destroyed frozen and fresh goods.
Luke
Those two figures differ in scale, and both are secondhand here. I'd treat the loss number as an official estimate.
Mark
And the rest of Europe?
Mimi
Grocers in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden saw the same style of attack, per Politico. The blood-storage sites in France were hit on November 2, but no blood was lost because monitoring alerted staff.
Luke
And neither of those is officially linked to the Iranian group. Same style isn't the same culprit. That's the open question.
O Pulso
- Refrigeration controllers at about 700 French grocery sites began defrosting on their own, spoiling food and sparking at least 15 fires.
- Paris prosecutors opened a criminal probe and sought international arrest warrants against the leadership of an IRGC-linked unit.
- Food losses are estimated in the tens of millions of euros, and a separate attack on hydroelectric equipment drew scrutiny too.
- Similar intrusions have surfaced in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden, though officials have not formally linked them.
- Three attacks on blood-storage refrigeration in November were contained, with no plasma lost, but investigators have not yet connected them to the same operation.
In mid-October, hidden hands reached into the cold rooms of roughly seven hundred French food sites, quietly turning up the temperature on everything meant to stay frozen and leaving spoiled goods and, in at least fifteen places, fire behind them. France has now named a likely author: an Iranian state-linked cyber unit operating behind a curtain of vigilante-sounding fronts. The episode sits in a long human story about how ordinary systems we never think about, the refrigerator humming in a supermarket, are now battlefields where distant powers test one another. What remains unsettled is how far the trail reaches, whether it crosses borders and into the places where medicine is kept cold.
On October 11, refrigeration controllers at roughly 700 food distribution sites across France began behaving as though someone else was in control, because someone was. Remote intruders changed defrost settings, pushing temperatures up in units built to keep food cold. Goods spoiled, and at least fifteen fires broke out.
French officials, including the foreign minister and the Paris prosecutor's office, now say the culprit is an Iranian hacking group. Prosecutors name Shahid Kaveh, a cyber unit they say is linked to the Electronic and Cyber Center of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which operated under cover of front groups such as CyberAveng3rs and Cyber Isnaad Front. A criminal investigation is open, international arrest warrants have been requested, and three Iranian officials have been named.
The losses are measured in tens of millions of euros. The same intrusion style reportedly reached grocers in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden, though those cases have not been formally attributed to the same group. In November, refrigeration at three French blood-storage sites was also targeted. Monitoring alerts let staff move the stored plasma in time, so no blood products were lost.
The open questions now are whether investigators tie the other countries and the blood-storage incidents to the same group, and whether any arrest warrant leads to action.
On October 11, refrigeration controllers at roughly 700 food distribution sites across France began behaving as though someone else was running them. Someone was. According to French cybersecurity officials, hackers reached the systems remotely and changed the defrost settings, pushing temperatures up inside units meant to keep food cold. Goods spoiled, and at least 15 fires started.
Now French officials, including the foreign minister and the Paris prosecutor's office, say they know who was behind it: an Iranian hacking group. In a statement translated for Gizmodo, the prosecutor's office said the attacks on the country's infrastructure were carried out by "an organized group" acting to serve a foreign power, "in this case, Iran."
The office named Shahid Kaveh as the main culprit, a cyber unit allegedly affiliated with the Electronic and Cyber Center of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, known as the IRGC-ECC. According to the prosecutors, the group worked under the cover of several vigilante-style front groups, among them "CyberAveng3rs" and "Cyber Isnaad Front."
The Paris prosecutor's office has opened a criminal investigation into suspected offenses that include fraudulent interference with an automated data-processing system and causing damage by means dangerous to persons. Prosecutors have also requested international arrest warrants aimed at the leadership of Shahid Kaveh. A French government report names three Iranian officials: Hamid Reza Lashgarian, head of the IRGC's Electronic and Cyber Center, and Mahdi Lashgarian and Reza Salarvand, both described as commanders of Shahid Kaveh.
The damage was substantial. The BBC reported that millions of euros' worth of frozen food and fresh produce was destroyed. France's Foreign Ministry now puts nationwide food losses at tens of millions of euros.
The refrigerators were not the only target. France's cybersecurity agency said the hackers also went after equipment made by Schneider Electric at several small hydroelectric facilities. The agency said those attacks had only limited effects.
The pattern did not stay inside France. In the weeks that followed, similar attacks hit grocery stores elsewhere in Europe. Politico reported that stores in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden were affected by the same style of intrusion. Those incidents have not been officially attributed to the same Iranian group.
A separate episode raised the stakes. On November 2, refrigeration systems at three French blood-storage facilities were targeted. Authorities have not linked those attacks to the Iranian operation. French officials said no blood products were lost: monitoring systems alerted staff, who secured or moved the stored plasma before it was damaged.
What to watch now is whether investigators formally tie the attacks in the other European countries, and the blood-storage incidents, to Shahid Kaveh, and whether any of the requested arrest warrants produce action.
Citações Notáveis
The attacks were carried out by an organized group to serve a foreign power, in this case, Iran.— France's Public Prosecutor's Office, in a translated statement to Gizmodo
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Politics & Governance