French prosecutors issued international arrest warrants for three members of an Iranian hacking group linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps following a cyberattack that disabled refrigeration units across hundreds of grocery stores.
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced the judicial inquiry on Monday, Nov. 9, targeting the leader of the Shahid Kaveh group and two of his deputies, lexpress.fr reported. Investigators suspect the unit of fraudulent computer system access and organized property damage intended to serve a foreign power.
Supermarket Refrigeration Systems Hijacked Remotely
The cyberattack struck roughly 700 retail locations across France during the night of Oct. 11 to Oct. 12. Intruders seized remote control of temperature regulation systems in refrigerators and freezers, spoiling food and triggering about 20 fires.
Attackers manipulated web interfaces on Danfoss and Dixell refrigeration controllers to force continuous, unmonitored defrost cycles, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. They also disabled security alerts on temperature probes to keep the systems from signaling anomalies.
Cybersecurity experts noted that the intrusion required limited technical sophistication. A manufacturer of the targeted hardware acknowledged that certain devices operated on outdated software or lacked recent internal updates.
Intelligence Agencies Trace Digital Footprints to Iran
The Office against Cybercrime (OFAC) and the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) jointly led the investigation that linked the operation to Iran. Investigators identified operational methods characteristic of Iranian cyberoffensive units, along with Persian language usage and internet protocol addresses tracing back to terminals in Iran.
Tehran consistently denies conducting malicious cyber operations. The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not respond to inquiries from Reuters regarding the warrants and allegations.
The investigation, led by the judges of instruction, will continue.
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