France blames Iran unit for grocery refrigeration sabotage
Original title: France blames Iran for supermarket hack meltdowns
Attacks on more than 700 stores started at least 15 fires and spoiled food worth tens of millions of euros.
France’s Cyber Crisis Coordination Centre and foreign ministry blamed the IRGC’s Shahid Kaveh unit, known as CyberAv3ngers, for October attacks on refrigeration controllers at more than 700 grocery stores. The campaign started at least 15 fires and caused food losses in the tens of millions of euros at Casino, Leclerc, Coopérative U, Metro, Carrefour, and Intermarché. France called it the first purely sabotage-focused cyber campaign on its territory and said it may seek EU sanctions and other responses. Investigators cited shared infrastructure, Farsi traces, and rapid coverage by CyberbanNews.
Unconfirmed: The US has not attributed the July water intrusions, and later European freezer attacks are not explicitly tied to this unit.
- Officials say Reza Salarvand and Mahdi Lashgarian lead the Shahid Kaveh unit.
- The unit could scan and control Schneider, Siemens, and Rockwell gear since June 2024.
- Similar freezer attacks were later reported in Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Sweden.
- France may propose EU sanctions and has not ruled out non-public responses.
- Private analysts blamed CyberAv3ngers for July attacks on over 100 US water systems.
Impact: Sabotaged store refrigeration, causing fires and large food losses.
| Product | Affected |
|---|---|
| Schneider Electric industrial control equipment | — |
| Siemens industrial control equipment | — |
| Rockwell industrial control equipment | — |
- ATT&CK
- T1595 Active Scanning
- Products
- refrigeration controllers
- Threat actors
- CyberAv3ngersShahid Kaveh
From the original article
3 min read at theregister.comThe 'first cyber offensive campaign carried out purely for the purpose of sabotage on national territory'
By Jessica Lyons · theregister.com
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