France has accused Iran of standing behind cyber attacks that last month caused the rise in temperatures in refrigerators and freezers of hundreds of supermarkets in the country, damaging food products worth millions of euros.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noble Barrot has stated at a media conference that the attack was carried out by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard ( IGRC).

He described the attack as unprecedented in terms of size and level of aggression, warning that France would seek to impose sanctions on all responsible persons at the European level.

The cyberattack occurred last month, when hackers managed to take control of programs that regulate the temperature of refrigerator equipment in supermarkets.

More than 100 supermarkets of the Coopétive network were affected by the attack, as well as 180 shops of the Intermarché network and its Netto brand.

In some of the shops, refrigerator temperatures are said to have increased by up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit [50 ° C] at night, causing damage to fresh and frozen products.

Meanwhile, last week dozens of supermarkets in seven other European countries were affected by a similar attack targeting refrigerator and frozen systems. It is still not known whether these incidents are related to each other.

Iran has not yet reacted to French authorities’ accusations.

Meanwhile, the prosecution in Paris has opened an investigation into the leaders of a cyberattack unit linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, as well as its two deputies.

Prosecutor Laure Beccuau has identified the unit as Khahid Kavehı, who he said has links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s electronic and cyber centre.

According to the BBC, the 11 October attack had used access to programmes that control the temperature of refrigerator equipment used in many French supermarkets.

Source Layer: Dukeagini