France's national cyber security agency, ANSSI, has accused Iran of being behind an 'unprecedented attack campaign' that disabled fridges across around 700 supermarkets, spoiling millions of pounds worth of food and causing fires.
Attack details
Hackers infiltrated the software that manages cooling units and raised temperatures, in some places up to 50°C, last month. Shoppers faced empty freezers with signs warning that produce was unavailable. Several independent butchers, a slaughterhouse and food factories were among the affected, while 15 fires were reported as a result of the meltdown.
ANSSI blamed Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its electronic and cyber centre for compromising the fridge systems, describing it as 'destabilisation and sabotage campaigns.'
Official statement
The agency said: 'Following the compromise of these systems during the night of Sunday, October 11 to Monday, October 12, 2026, the defrosting parameters of the equipment were modified to set high temperatures, resulting in losses of goods and, in at least 15 cases, fires.'
Equipment used at small hydroelectric installations across the country linked to the same attack also suffered 'moderate effects.' An investigation by the cyber crisis coordination centre tracked the attack to the Shahid Kaveh cyber offensive unit, the agency said.
Investigation and wider impact
'Infrastructure characteristics, use of signing tools, relay of the attack by a propaganda organ linked to Shahid Kaveh, traces of the use of Persian in the attack infrastructure,' it said.
Public prosecutors in Paris have launched an investigation and requested international arrest warrants against several members of the Shahid Kaveh group. Some days after the cyber attack in France, supermarkets across other European countries were targeted. Dozens of Delhaize stores in Belgium and Luxembourg were reportedly affected along with shops in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Ireland and the Netherlands. The culprit for the latest spate of attacks has not been officially confirmed, but the countries' cyber security watchdogs were monitoring the situation.
