Could Iran-linked cyberattacks reach Europe’s homes and critical infrastructure?

LONDON: For a few days, governments around the world clung to the hope that the bizarre series of cyberattacks on supermarket freezers across France was the work of hackers with some kind of societal grudge, or perhaps criminals planning to demand ransom payments.

But the announcement by the French government on Monday that the attack of “unprecedented scale and unprecedented aggression” was in fact the work of Iranian agents suggests a far more ominous scenario.

If the conclusion of the French security services is correct, then US allies around the world could be on the cusp of a devastating cyberwar for which they are ill-prepared, and against which conventional military defenses are utterly helpless.

French retailers were not the only victims of the attacks. The first incident, in mid-October, saw the temperature of hundreds of supermarket fridges across France raised remotely to up to 50 degrees centigrade overnight, destroying large amounts of food.

Then, at the beginning of November, an identical cyberattack hit supermarket chains in seven countries across Europe, including Belgium, Ireland, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Even more worrying than the loss of perishable food worth millions of euros, on Nov. 1 and 2 the refrigerators at three regional blood banks run by the state French Blood Establishment were also hit.