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The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind the October cyberattacks on refrigerators and freezers in French supermarkets, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrault said.
“This was the first such large-scale cyber attack aimed at sabotage on our territory and it represents a serious attack on our national interests and the security of the people of France,” the minister said at a press conference in Paris.
He added that pan-European sanctions would be imposed against all those responsible for this cyber attack.
According to the French minister, the Iranian Ambassador in Paris was also summoned to the Foreign Ministry to “express a strong protest in connection with this extremely grave act.”
Barrot added that France would take “any other necessary and proportionate measures” in response to the incident to “warn those who might attempt to repeat it.”
Iran has not yet commented on Barro's statement.
In a cyberattack that occurred on October 11-12 and affected hundreds of supermarkets across France, hackers took control of software that regulates the temperature of refrigeration equipment and increased the temperature in them - up to 50 degrees Celsius, according to one affected chain, causing food to spoil. The damage amounted to millions of euros.
The attack affected more than 100 supermarkets of the Coopérative U chain, as well as 180 stores of the Intermarché chain and its Netto brand.
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Other major retailers including Carrefour, Monoprix and E.Leclerc were also affected; The hackers' target was software developed by the Danish company Danfoss. It allows retail chains to remotely control refrigeration equipment.
On November 2, similar cyber attacks occurred in nine more European countries: Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, Italy and Portugal. More than 100 stores were affected by this attack.
Paris prosecutor Laure Becco said Monday that prosecutors have opened an investigation into the Shahid Kaveh hacker group, linked to the IRGC cyber center, and two members of its leadership following the cyberattack on supermarkets.
French authorities did not say on what basis they came to the conclusion that Iran was responsible; At the same time, identifying those responsible for cyber attacks is an extremely difficult task, since hackers carefully hide their location.
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