Pentagon probes possible cyberattack after freezer failures spoil food at US bases
US military investigators are examining whether hackers deliberately tampered with refrigeration systems at military bases across America after a series of freezer malfunctions spoiled food in August, according to four officials familiar with the matter.The Pentagon is also in contact with French counterparts investigating a similar incident that disrupted commercial freezers at supermarkets in France earlier this month, one of the officials said.Reuters could not establish how far the US investigation had progressed or whether investigators had identified the cause of the malfunctions or those responsible.The Pentagon said a unit of US Cyber Command, the military’s cyber force, was “working in close coordination with interagency and law enforcement partners”. It did not provide further details.The US Army Criminal Investigation Division confirmed that its Cyber Field Office was involved and was working with French law enforcement to better understand “the refrigeration outages in Europe”.The suspected attack affected at least six military commissaries, which are on-base shops where service personnel buy food, according to a Reuters review of social media posts and website updates published by the affected bases in August.
Freezers allegedly switched to heating mode
The incidents occurred in late August and involved more than ordinary equipment failures. In at least one case, the temperature settings of refrigeration units were raised overnight, leaving large quantities of food spoiled by the following morning.A Facebook post from Fort Huachuca in Arizona on August 26 described what had happened to its freezer.The account said the unit “went into defrost mode where it heated up all the food. Trust us when we say it was ‘spoiled.'”The possibility that the incidents involved deliberate cyber interference was first reported on August 28 by the recently launched blog Signal and Silence.The involvement of military investigators and their contacts with French authorities were subsequently reported by Stars and Stripes and Britain’s Daily Telegraph. Reuters is now reporting for the first time that the Pentagon is treating the incidents as a suspected hack.
French supermarket attack offers possible clues
The US investigation comes after a similar incident in France, where hackers reportedly altered temperature controls on commercial refrigeration units at more than 350 establishments.Supermarkets were forced to remove spoiled frozen food from their shelves. In some cases, temperatures were raised so sharply that refrigeration units caught fire. One supermarket owner estimated earlier this month that the damage nationwide could run into tens of millions of euros.Experts previously told Reuters that the French attack appeared relatively easy to carry out. Danish refrigeration technology company Danfoss said many of the controllers used in the affected units were obsolete or running outdated firmware, potentially making them easier to compromise.Reuters could not determine whether Danfoss equipment, or controllers made by another manufacturer, were installed at the affected US military bases. Danfoss did not respond to requests for comment.
Why refrigeration systems are a cybersecurity risk
Refrigeration is essential to keeping food safe during storage and distribution. If hackers can remotely change a cooling system’s settings, they may be able to spoil food without shutting the equipment down entirely.The Global Food Safety Initiative, an industry body, earlier this year urged food safety professionals and information technology leaders to work together to ensure “robust cybersecurity” for refrigeration systems. It warned that “a hacked cooling system is just as dangerous as a broken one.”Previous incidents have demonstrated the risks. Danfoss said hackers targeted or accessed supermarkets in Russia and Israel in 2022 that were using outdated versions of its refrigeration controllers.In December last year, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles accused a Ukrainian woman of belonging to a hacking group that disrupted refrigeration at a meatpacking facility in 2024, ruining more than 2,000 pounds of meat.Bill Moore, chief executive of industrial cybersecurity firm Xona Systems, said refrigeration controllers were originally designed to be managed by technicians working on site. Increasingly, however, such equipment is connected to the internet, potentially exposing it to remote attacks.The risks extend beyond refrigeration, but the consequences can be particularly serious when food storage is involved. “It can definitely disrupt the supply chain for food,” Moore said.Investigators have yet to establish whether the US military incidents were caused by hackers, how the systems may have been accessed or who could have been responsible. If a cyberattack is confirmed, the case would highlight how digital interference with seemingly ordinary equipment can threaten food supplies and critical infrastructure.
