France Blames Iran for Fridge Hacks at 700 Stores, Summons Its Ambassador

France has formally blamed Iran for a wave of cyberattacks that switched off the cooling at about 700 retail sites in October, and on Tuesday it summoned Iran's ambassador in Paris to protest, according to Al Jazeera. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the attack was the first large-scale cyberattack aimed at sabotage on French soil, and he called it unprecedented “in both its scale and its level of aggression.”

France's cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, said military hackers from Iran took over refrigeration controllers in supermarkets and butcher shops, NPR reported. The French government links the operation to a cyber unit called Shahid Kaveh, which it ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The attack by the numbers

• About 700: retail sites hit, from supermarkets to butcher shops, according to NPR. Al Jazeera put the figure at more than 700 supermarkets.
• Oct. 11 and 12: the two days of the attack, when Barrot said fridges were accessed remotely to start abnormal, indefinite defrost cycles.
• Millions: the value of the food spoiled. NPR said millions of dollars' worth, while Al Jazeera said retailers reported millions of euros' worth. In some cases, Al Jazeera added, the heat started fires or melted equipment.
• Five chains: E-Leclerc, Intermarche, Carrefour, Monoprix and Cooperative U were all hit, according to Al Jazeera.
• Two officials: the number of Shahid Kaveh officials for whom the Paris prosecutor's office has requested international arrest warrants.

How investigators say they traced it

ANSSI told reporters it identified the hackers through a series of digital clues. These included the infrastructure they used, a link to a propaganda outlet and traces of the Farsi language in the attack, according to NPR. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau opened an investigation into Shahid Kaveh on Monday.

ANSSI also said the hackers targeted several small hydroelectric power plants, with what it described as moderate effects.

The French government is the first to formally assign blame for the wider wave of attacks on refrigeration systems, NPR reported. That wave has hit controllers from Europe to Israel and the United States this year. Similar incidents have since been reported elsewhere in Europe. Al Jazeera said temperature spikes were recorded on Nov. 2 in stores in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden, in what is suspected to be a cyberattack. NPR also reported that a major French blood bank had to act fast to protect samples when its cooling system was hit last week.

Why it matters for shoppers and businesses

For ordinary shoppers, the visible result was empty shelves of perishable goods: Al Jazeera reported that the raised temperatures forced the affected supermarkets to throw away all of their perishable food. Cybersecurity experts told NPR the attacks highlight a long-running problem in securing operational technology, the machines that control physical processes such as water pumps and cooling systems. Those machines are often outdated, the report said.

Security specialists quoted by NPR said the campaign fits a pattern for Iranian hackers. Alex Orleans of the firm Sublime Security said such operations are a cost-effective way for the Revolutionary Guard to disrupt targets abroad, both physically and psychologically. Tracing who is directly responsible is hard, Jody Westby, chief executive of Global Cyber Risk, told Al Jazeera, because of poor cooperation on international cybercrime investigations.

What happens next

Barrot said France would push for European Union sanctions. He said Paris “rules nothing out” and will take all measures it considers proportionate and necessary, including some it will not disclose publicly, to deter further attacks. Prosecutors are also continuing their investigation and have asked for the international arrest warrants.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by NPR, Al Jazeera