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Ella Kipling, Joe Tidy Cyber Editor (BBC World Service)
The French government on Wednesday accused Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) of being behind an October cyberattack that caused the temperature of refrigerators and freezers in French supermarkets to rise.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the attack was "unprecedented both in its scale and aggressiveness", adding that those responsible would be subject to sanctions.
Iran has not yet made an official response, but some Iranian media outlets have called France's claims baseless.
Hundreds of supermarkets were damaged in the hacking incident in France, and large quantities of frozen and refrigerated food were thrown away. Similar attacks have hit supermarkets in other European countries. It is unknown whether these incidents are related.
Barrot said the attack on a French supermarket was "the first full-scale cyberattack aimed at sabotage on our territory and a serious attack on our national interests and the security of the French people."
He also said the government had summoned Iran's ambassador to France "to express our very strong protest against this extremely serious act."
It added that France would take "other necessary and appropriate measures" in response to the incident "to deter anyone who attempts to repeat similar acts."
The Paris public prosecutor's office announced that it has launched an investigation into the head of an IRGC-linked cyberattack unit and two of his lieutenants.
Prosecutor Laure Baquo said the attack force was called Shahid Kaveh and had ties to the IRGC's Electronics and Cyber Center. Shahid Kaveh is the name given to a group of hackers believed to be directly employed by the Iranian regime.
In recent weeks, many Iranian commentators and politicians have argued that Iran should extend its retaliatory measures beyond the region if the United States and Israel resume the war they started in February.
Even if the IRGC carried out the cyberattack, it remains unclear whether it was part of Iran's deterrence strategy.
The cyber attack on a French supermarket occurred on October 11th. Hackers took control of the software that controls the temperature of refrigeration and freezing equipment.
More than 100 stores of the supermarket chain ``Cooperative U'' were damaged, and 180 stores of ``Intermarche'' and its subsidiary ``Net'' were damaged. In some stores, temperatures inside refrigerators reportedly rose to 50 degrees overnight.
Other major food retailers targeted include Carrefour, Monoprix, and E. Leclerc. The target was software provided by Danish engineering company Danfoss.
This software enables remote control of refrigeration and freezing equipment.
On November 2nd, a second wave of hacking incidents occurred, with more than 100 supermarkets across Europe being damaged.
Supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg were affected, while smaller stores were also affected in Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland.
In the United States, in August, refrigerators at multiple military bases malfunctioned for unknown reasons, resulting in food spoiling. Reuters reported, citing sources, that the incident is also being investigated as a deliberate cyberattack.
Since the spate of attacks on refrigeration and freezing facilities, experts have speculated about which hacking groups may be responsible, with Iran also being mentioned as a possible candidate.
On the 4th, two Russian-aligned hacktivist groups claimed responsibility for the attack, but few believed them.
The French government has not disclosed how it came to the conclusion that Iran was responsible. It is extremely difficult to identify the perpetrators of cyberattacks because hackers can hide their location.
Additional coverage: Farshad Bayan (BBC Persian)
(English article: France accuses Iran of supermarket fridge hacking)
