France Summons Iran Envoy Over Fridge Hack as Europe Braces for Cyberattacks

France has summoned Iran's ambassador over a hacking campaign that hit hundreds of supermarket refrigerators last month, according to France 24. The compromised units overheated, and 15 of them actually caught fire. Paris was reportedly acting on US intelligence when it called Tehran's envoy in.

The timing is loaded. Iran is working to break out of its international isolation, and the fridge sabotage lands squarely in that push. It isn't the only front: Europe has been rattled by a string of other hacks and bomb threats over recent weeks, and the continent is being told to expect more.

On the diplomatic side, European representatives are jockeying for a seat at US-brokered Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi. Europe's so-called coalition of the willing is running military drills in Poland in parallel. The open question on the table: whether a force led by France and the UK could keep the peace in an eventual deal, or further deter Russia.

Back home, the UK defence secretary has launched a "Be Prepared" campaign urging citizens to stock canned goods, pet food, bottled water, medical supplies and even spare cash for a major emergency. Some French presidential candidates have dismissed the messaging as fearmongering.

France 24's panel digs into the hack and Europe's wider threat picture with Michel Yakovleff, a Sciences Po professor and former vice chief of staff at SHAPE NATO; independent journalist Borzou Daragahi; Samantha de Bendern of Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia program; and tech geopolitics consultant Jérôme Barbier, formerly head of cybersecurity at the Paris Peace Forum.