Cyber security experts in France said they have nailed down suspects responsible for the attack that melted hundreds of supermarket fridges.
Shoppers faced empty freezers plastered with signs warning them of produce being unavailable after the malicious attack against the software that manages cooling units.
Several independent butchers, a slaughterhouse and food factories were among the affected, while 15 fires were also reported as a result of the meltdown.
Now, France has accused Iran of being behind the mysterious cyber attack, which disabled fridges across around 700 supermarkets.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro's newsletter or get alerts the moment it happens.
ANSSI, the French national cyber security agency, blamed Iran for the ‘unprecedented attack campaign.’
It accused Iran’s notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its electronic and cyber centre of compromising the fridge systems, describing it as ‘destabilisation and sabotage campaigns.’
The agency said: ‘Following the compromise of these systems during the night of Sunday, October 11 to Monday, October 12, 2026, the defrosting parameters of the equipment were modified to set high temperatures, resulting in losses of goods and, in at least 15 cases, fires.’
Equipment used at small hydroelectric installations across the country linked to the same attack also suffered ‘moderate effects.’
An investigation by the cyber crisis coordination centre tracked the attack to the Shahid Kaveh cyber offensive unit, the agency said.
‘Infrastructure characteristics, use of signing tools, relay of the attack by a propaganda organ linked to Shahid Kaveh, traces of the use of Persian in the attack infrastructure,’ it said.
What is Shahid Kaveh?
The shadowy group is said to be part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units specialising in cyber operations.
Experts have described Shahid Kaveh’s intelligence group 13 as operationally aggressive.
The group has previously been suspected of hacking into networks in the US and Israel.
It is named after Mohammad Kaveh, an IRGC chief who was killed during the 1986 Iran-Iraq war.
Now, public prosecutors in Paris have launched an investigation and requested international arrest warrants against several members of the Shahid Kaveh group.
Some days after the cyber attack in France, supermarkets across other European countries were targeted.
The culprit for the latest spate of attacks has not been officially confirmed, but the countries’ cyber security watchdogs were monitoring the situation.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
MORE: Young people may not know how to read a map if there’s a cyber attack
MORE: Tesco Christmas markets are back for 2026 with goodie bags plus free food and drink
MORE: Brits are getting the ick over ‘dystopian’ new shopping trend at M&S