Belgium's Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés) is “unable to confirm at this stage” the statements made by Minister for the Interior and Security Bernard Quintin (MR) regarding possible Iranian involvement in the recent cyber-attacks on refrigeration installations in our country.
“The relevant authorities continue to exchange information on this matter at federal level, but the data currently available to us is insufficient to hold Iran responsible officially,” Prévot stated in a message to Belga News Agency.
The attacks in early November disrupted cooling systems at several Belgian supermarkets and shops. As a result, many businesses were forced to throw away food worth tens of thousands of euros.
France faced similar incidents in October, and the Paris prosecutor said on Monday that hacker groups linked to Iran were responsible for those attacks.
Quintin said Belgium’s security services had also identified signs pointing in that direction. “In Belgium too, the security services have reported indications suggesting possible links with known Iranian actors,” he said.
He added that the federal prosecutor’s office was examining those leads more closely. “We take these cyberattacks very seriously and are deploying all necessary resources to assess the threat,” Quintin said.
Prévot has now said it is too early to draw conclusions. For the time being, there is no conclusive evidence to “officially hold Iran responsible”. “Furthermore, the investigation into the incidents in Belgium is still being led by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office. Out of respect for the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers, we cannot comment on the substance of that investigation or prejudge its conclusions,” said Prévot.
The Foreign Minister also stated that any official attribution of a cyberattack to a foreign actor is handled by the Foreign Office.
