Who are Shahid Kaveh? Iranian cybercriminal gang blamed for France supermarket fridge hack - The Independent

The attacks caused commercial fridges and freezers to lose power across France last month in incidents costing tens of millions of euros. Approximately 700 supermarkets were impacted and 15 fires broke out as heat dials were turned up by hackers.

Iran's Response

French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said he had summoned Iran's ambassador over what he called "unacceptable cyberattacks conducted by the Islamic Republic of Iran".

Who are Shahid Kaveh?

The group is described as a "cyber unit" affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Shahid Kaveh loosely translates as shahid meaning martyr, and Kaveh is thought to be named after a revolutionary guard commander who died in the 1980s.

French investigators have narrowed down three individuals who they believe are responsible, including the head of the IRGC-ECC Hamid Reza Lashgarian, who is also a commander in the Quds Force and has been subject to US sanctions since 2024. Two others within the unit have also been named: Reza Salarvand, a computer science graduate from a Tehran university, and Mahdi Lashgarian. The Paris prosecutor's office has requested an international arrest warrant for the trio.

Method and Motive

Hackers are thought to have broken into supermarket refrigeration software to turn up the heat in the units. French cybercrime units identified traces of Persian in code and IP addresses that led them back to Shahid Kaveh, which was originally known as CyberAveng3rs.

According to cybersecurity firm Dragos, the group has carried out attacks on Israel's power grid after the October 7 attacks by Hamas and on a US municipal water authority in November 2023, where they displayed a message of support for Gaza. Le Monde reported that their main purpose was to share propaganda and they were not considered a major player until recently.