Pentagon Probes Suspected Cyberattack on Six Commissaries

Freezer temperatures rose overnight at US bases in late August, spoiling food at at least six commissaries. On August 26 Fort Huachuca's Facebook account said its freezer "went into defrost mode where it heated up all the food. Trust us when we say it was 'spoiled.'" The Pentagon is investigating the malfunctions as a suspected cyberattack and said it is "working in close coordination with interagency and law enforcement partners." The US Army Criminal Investigation Division is working with French law enforcement on "the refrigeration outages in Europe." A French attack affected more than 350 establishments, with spoiled frozen food cleared from aisles and some units raised so high they caught fire. One supermarket owner estimated tens of millions of euros in nationwide damage. Danfoss said controllers were obsolete or running outdated firmware and that hackers targeted or accessed supermarkets in Russia and Israel in 2022. Reuters could not establish which controllers were at the US bases. The Global Food Safety Initiative said "a hacked cooling system is just as dangerous as a broken one." Bill Moore said "It can definitely disrupt the supply chain for food." Public statements have not identified a cause or culprit.