The Pentagon is investigating a series of strange freezer malfunctions that led to food spoiling at military bases across the United States last August, considering the incidents as a potential cyberattack, according to several officials familiar with the situation.
One official mentioned that military investigators are collaborating with their counterparts in France, where a similar cyber incident affected commercial freezers and disrupted supermarkets earlier this month.
It remains unclear how advanced the Pentagon’s inquiry is or whether any conclusions have been drawn regarding the cause or the perpetrators.
When questioned about the investigation, the Pentagon indicated that a division of Cyber Command, which oversees military cyber operations, is “working in close coordination with interagency and law enforcement partners,” though no further details were provided.
The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division confirmed its Cyber Field Office is involved in this investigation and is also working with French law enforcement to comprehend the refrigeration issues occurring in Europe.
Reports suggest that the malfunctions in August impacted at least six commissaries—military stores where personnel purchase food—based on a review of social media posts and updates from the military bases.
In one instance, the freezer didn’t just malfunction; its temperatures were raised overnight, resulting in significant food spoilage by morning.
The Facebook page for Fort Huachuca in Arizona shared on August 26 that their freezer “went into defrost mode,” causing the food inside to heat up, which they described as “spoiled.”
The first mention of these unusual freezer incidents and potential cyber sabotage appeared on August 28 in a newly launched blog.
The involvement of military investigators and their communication with French counterparts was previously reported by other news outlets.
This is the first report indicating that officials are treating the malfunctions as a suspected cyber incident.
The French Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
French Freezers Affected
If the issues do turn out to be linked to cyberattacks, it would highlight the vulnerability of vital infrastructure, like cold storage, to hacking threats.
Recent cyberattacks in France had overridden temperature controls of commercial freezer units across more than 350 businesses, resulting in significant waste as spoiled food was cleared from supermarket aisles.
Similar to the situation in Fort Huachuca, French hackers reportedly increased the temperatures in units rather than merely taking them offline, leading to some refrigeration units catching fire.
One supermarket owner even estimated that the overall damages from the French cyberattack could reach tens of millions of euros.
Experts noted that the French hack seemed relatively straightforward to execute, with many of the compromised units being outdated, which would have simplified the hacking process.
It remains undetermined if the same freezer controllers were in use at the affected U.S. military bases. Danfoss, a company linked to the stricken units, has not provided any comments.
Concerns over Cyberattacks
Proper refrigeration is crucial for distributing fresh food, and the prospect of sabotaging cold storage systems via the internet has long been regarded as a dire possibility, in the same vein as disruptions in electricity or water supply.
This year, an industry organization advocated for a collaboration between food safety professionals and IT leaders to ensure cybersecurity measures for refrigeration technology, emphasizing that a compromised cooling system poses dangers akin to a malfunctioning one.
There have been previous reports of hackers targeting refrigeration systems in both the U.S. and other countries.
In 2022, Danfoss highlighted instances where hackers targeted supermarkets in Russia and Israel using outdated versions of their cold storage controllers.
Additionally, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles charged a Ukrainian individual with being part of a cybercrime group that incapacitated a meatpacking facility’s refrigeration in 2024, resulting in the destruction of over 2,000 pounds of meat.
Bill Moore, CEO of a cybersecurity firm, pointed out that controllers, originally designed for direct technician servicing, have increasingly been connected to the internet, raising concerns about exposure.
He noted that while these concerns aren’t unique to cooling systems, the implications for food supply chains can be particularly severe.
“It can definitely disrupt the supply chain for food,” he remarked.
