Abstract:
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Tuesday that the French government "will not rule out any response" to the large-scale cyber attack on French supermarket refrigerators in October. France has blamed Iran for the attack. On Tuesday morning, the French government summoned the Iranian ambassador to France. Previously, Paris said on Monday that its investigation determined that the cyber attack was carried out by Shahid Kaveh, an organization affiliated with the cyber department of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Barrow said in an interview that the French government may impose measures such as banning entry into Europe and freezing assets of all those found responsible to prevent further malicious actions against the European region.
Investigation points to Iranian hackers
On the night of October 11th and 12th, hackers remotely attacked approximately 700 grocery stores, causing the temperature of in-store refrigerators and freezers to rise to a maximum of 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).
Abnormally high temperatures cause food to spoil and cause fires, causing tens of millions of dollars in damage. Several large French retailers were targeted, including Intermarché, E.Leclerc, Carrefour, Monoprix and Coopérative U.
The Paris prosecutor's office is seeking to issue an international arrest warrant, Chief Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
The statement stated that investigators found that Farsi was used during the attack and that the relevant IP addresses pointed to devices located in Iran. The investigation also determined that the attack was carried out in the service of a foreign power, in this case Iran.
The statement pointed out that the target of the hacker attack was refrigeration controllers provided by Danfoss and Dixell. The attacker remotely controls the device via a web interface, initiating an infinite loop of defrost procedures while turning off security alarms on the sensors. These alarms are intended to trigger when the temperature exceeds a preset threshold.
France proposes to impose a new round of sanctions on Iran
The French government also said on Monday that it would propose that the European Union impose a new round of sanctions on all Iranian entities and individuals involved in the cyber attack and summon the Iranian ambassador to France.
The French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs said in a statement:
"France condemns in the strongest terms the unacceptable cyber attacks carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran on French soil against French interests."
“This operation is unprecedented in scale and aggressiveness. It is the first cyberattack carried out entirely for the purpose of destruction on French soil.”
The department also said: "This actor poses a persistent threat to our critical infrastructure. These devastating cyberattacks are unjustified, inexcusable and violate international law."
France has previously blamed actors associated with Iran for a number of cyber attacks in the country, including cyber attacks and information manipulation operations against Charlie Hebdo in 2023, and similar incidents during the 2024 Paris Olympics. These incidents eventually prompted France to impose sanctions on the private Iranian company Emennet Pasargad in March 2026.
European infrastructure faces cybersecurity risks
In November, more supermarket refrigerators in other parts of Europe were targeted. Several stores in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland and Sweden reported losses.
The French Blood Agency (EFS) stated that French blood banks also suffered a cyber security attack on November 2.
EFS said in a statement that the temperature and defrost thresholds of refrigerated equipment used to store blood products and samples required by medical institutions and biobanks were "set at excessively high levels."
At the same time, a series of false bomb threats have also unsettled European leaders and the public. The threats have prompted the emergency diversion of dozens of passenger flights.
Simon Edwards, CEO of cybersecurity testing agency SE Labs, said in an emailed comment:
“This seems likely to be a fairly direct signal sent by hostile forces to European governments, warning them that these forces have the ability to interfere with critical infrastructure and disrupt basic public services at any time.”
"Whether this is an attempt to intimidate governments or preparations for larger-scale operations, it illustrates how vulnerable our infrastructure may be."
He also pointed out: "The lack of basic network security protection measures is a key factor in the success of these attacks. Why are these refrigerators connected to the Internet in the first place? Why can they be accessed by outsiders without password protection?"
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