French Officials Suspect Iran Behind Refrigerator Hacks, Sources Say: October 11 Attack Hit Hundreds of Sites, Second Wave This Month Hit More Than 100 Across E
French officials suspect that Iranian state-backed hackers were behind the cyberattacks that knocked out commercial refrigerators and freezers across France last month, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday, November 9.
That would make the hacks among the most disruptive cyberattacks of the war with Iran that began in February, a conflict marked by scattered incidents of alleged cyber disruption, including disruptions to the Los Angeles transit system in March, to U.S. water treatment plants in July and to ships bound for the United States in August.
The October 11 cyberattack overrode the temperature controls on commercial fridges in hundreds of establishments. Cybersecurity experts previously told Reuters the attack appeared to have been easy to pull off, and the firm behind many of the stricken units said several were obsolete or running outdated firmware. Some refrigerators had the temperature turned up so high they caught fire, and in the hours after the hack supermarket employees carted boxes of perished meat and melted ice cream into giant trash containers. One French supermarket owner estimated the attack's total costs could add up to tens of millions of euros nationwide.
Reuters could not establish exactly how the French made their determination, and its sources spoke on condition of anonymity. The French foreign ministry and the Paris prosecutor's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Iran's mission to the United Nations did not return messages seeking comment. Iran routinely denies carrying out malicious cyber operations.
The French hacks were followed this month by a second wave that hit more than 100 establishments across Europe and affected refrigerators used by French blood banks, prompting employees to move some blood to different cold storage units.
In the United States, at least half a dozen military commissaries saw refrigerators go out of commission in August. Pentagon investigators are treating the malfunctions as a suspected cyberattack and are working with French officials, Reuters reported last month. A person familiar with the matter said the Pentagon considers Iran a suspect in the August commissary hacks but that the investigation is still in progress. The Pentagon said on Monday that it is "aware of speculation regarding a potential cyber incident" but that military investigators were on the case and it could not offer further comment for security reasons. Reuters could not independently establish whether there was any link between the August U.S. incidents, the French campaign and the more recent European wave.
Source: Reuters, November 9, 2026.
来源链接： https://www.reuters.com/world/french-officials-suspect-iran-is-behind-refrigerator-hacks-sources-say-2026-11-09/
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Source: Reuters
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Photo: 超市冷藏柜（资料图）。（Wikimedia Commons／CC BY-SA 4.0）|Supermarket refrigerated cabinets (file photo). (Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0)
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