France says it has summoned Iran’s ambassador to Paris to protest a cyberattack on supermarket refrigeration systems, escalating its response to an operation it blames on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday that France would seek European Union sanctions and consider other measures to deter further attacks, Al Jazeera reported.

“It marks the first large-scale cyberattack aimed at sabotage on our national territory,” Barrot told France Info television, describing it as a major attack on French interests and public security. He said France ruled nothing out, including measures it might not disclose publicly.

The diplomatic move follows Barrot’s accusation on Monday that the IRGC was responsible for attacks on more than 700 French supermarkets on October 11 and 12. Refrigerators were remotely accessed to trigger “abnormal, indefinite defrost cycles,” he said.

Retailers reported millions of euros in spoiled food as rising temperatures forced stores to discard perishables. In some cases, equipment melted or fires broke out, according to Al Jazeera. The affected supermarket groups included E-Leclerc, Intermarche, Carrefour, Monoprix and Cooperative U.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said Monday that she had opened an investigation into Shahid Kaveh, an IRGC cyber unit. The prosecutor’s office has requested international arrest warrants for two of the unit’s officials.

Similar refrigeration incidents have since been reported elsewhere in Europe. Temperature spikes were recorded in stores in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden on November 2 in a suspected cyberattack. The report did not establish who was responsible for those incidents.

Sources