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.