Belgium on Wednesday said it had indications that recent cyberattacks on supermarket refrigeration systems in the country were linked to Iran, just days after France blamed Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for attacks on its grocery cooling systems.
“In Belgium, too, the security services are reporting indications of possible links to known Iranian actors,” Interior Minister Bernard Quintin told the Belgian news agency Belga on Thursday.
He said the public prosecutor’s office was examining the leads.
“We take these cyberattacks very seriously and are using all necessary means to assess the threat,” Quintin added. “There is no cause for panic, but we are remaining particularly vigilant.”
Several European countries, including Belgium, Sweden, France and Germany, have reported cyberattacks on the cooling systems in supermarkets and food processing facilities since mid-October. During the incidents, attackers remotely raised the temperature of fridges and freezers, causing goods to spoil.
On Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was behind the attacks there, which he described as “unprecedented” in scale and aggression. Barrot said France planned to impose new sanctions against those responsible.
Belgian’s Foreign Minister Quintin also called for action. “Iran has attacked France and possibly Belgium as well,” he said. “Our country must unequivocally support the call for European sanctions against states that carry out cyberattacks on our territory.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the French government’s allegations, saying in a statement on Tuesday that the accusations were an “irresponsible and ridiculous move” intended to damage the country’s reputation and disrupt its relations with other nations.