France Blames Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for Cyberattack, Plans EU Sanctions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Monday attributed last month’s cyberattack on supermarket refrigeration systems to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. France has summoned Iran’s ambassador and intends to pursue retaliatory sanctions at European level. Speaking to reporters, Barrot described the operation as unprecedented in its scale and aggressiveness. He characterized it as the first large-scale cyberattack carried out for sabotage on French territory and said it targeted France’s national interests and the security of its people. His statement assigns responsibility to the Revolutionary Guards for an attack that disrupted civilian food refrigeration. The European Commission had issued a joint statement on November 4 describing cybersecurity incidents affecting commercial refrigeration systems and similar devices in several EU member states since October 11. It identified another wave on November 1 and 2. Affected member states were investigating the incidents and issuing guidance, while national incident-response and crisis-management networks exchanged information. The Commission, the EU cybersecurity agency ENISA and Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre were among the bodies urging organizations to take immediate steps to reduce their exposure. The joint statement called rapid information-sharing and a coordinated European response essential given the incidents’ scale. ENISA and other relevant EU stakeholders said they would continue monitoring the situation and contributing to a shared assessment across the Union.