The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division is looking into strange malfunctions of freezers and refrigerators that spoiled food at military bases throughout the United States. Some officials are concerned that these outages could be linked to a cyberattack.
According to an Army CID representative, the Cyber Field Office is collaborating with the Defense Commissary Agency and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service to figure out what caused the cooling problems at military commissaries back in August.
Additionally, investigators are in contact with French authorities to gain insight into several refrigeration outages experienced in Europe, as they’re exploring possible connections between these incidents.
In late August, six military commissaries—stores for personnel to buy food—suffered from sudden refrigeration breakdowns. For instance, Fort Huachuca in Arizona reported on Facebook that its refrigeration units had gone into “defrost mode” overnight. They noted that all frozen food had spoiled due to this issue.
Other impacted locations included various military bases such as F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island, Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, Travis Air Force Base in California, and Fort Irwin in California. In at least one instance, instead of just shutting off, refrigeration units were adjusted to higher temperatures overnight.
This comes on the heels of a significant cyberattack in France that targeted numerous supermarkets, effectively manipulating their refrigerators to reach temperatures of 122 degrees Fahrenheit, leading to extensive food spoilage and even fires across Europe.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed the attack, labeling it a “large-scale” incident affecting several major food retailers in the country.
