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The Pentagon is investigating mysterious refrigeration system failures at several United States military bases in late August 2026. The disruptions spoiled food supplies at at least six commissaries, which are grocery stores for personnel located inside military installations. According to reports by CNBC Indonesia and Kompas.com citing Reuters, four officials said a cyberattack was among the suspected causes.
Temperatures rose overnight
The affected commissaries are located at US Army, Air Force, and Navy bases across Arizona, California, Wyoming, Mississippi, and Rhode Island. During the disruptions, the stores were unable to sell meat, milk, vegetables, or frozen food, but continued selling dry goods.
At at least one base, the refrigeration systems did not simply stop working. Instead, their temperatures rose overnight, leaving food wilted, thawed, and unfit for consumption by the following morning. Fort Huachuca officials in Arizona said through the base's official account on August 26 that the freezers had entered defrost mode and heated the food inside them.
Cyber unit joins investigation
Kompas.com reported that the Pentagon is treating the series of failures as a suspected hacking incident. However, it remains unclear how far the investigation has progressed or who may be responsible. A unit of Cyber Command, the US military's cyber force, has been involved and is working with government agencies and law enforcement authorities.
The US Army Criminal Investigation Division also said its cyber field office was involved in the investigation. A Pentagon representative provided no further details but said there was cooperation with interagency and law enforcement partners. The incidents at the US bases were first reported by a blog on August 28 and were subsequently covered by other media outlets.
Similarities to incidents in France
US military investigators have communicated with French investigators to discuss similar disruptions affecting supermarket refrigeration systems in early October. In the incidents in France, the temperature controls of refrigeration units at more than 350 business locations were taken over. Temperatures were not only raised high enough to spoil food, but in some units became hot enough to cause fires.
CNBC Indonesia reported that losses from the incidents in France were estimated at tens of millions of euros. The French Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the matter. It remains unknown whether the disruptions in France and the failures at US military bases are connected or were carried out by the same party.
Risks posed by internet-connected devices
Danish company Danfoss said many of the refrigeration devices attacked in France were old and still used outdated software. This condition was considered to have made them easier to breach. However, it is not known whether the US military bases use equipment made by the same company.
Bill Moore of industrial cybersecurity company Xona Systems highlighted the growing number of modern refrigeration systems connected to the internet. According to him, their controllers were originally designed as isolated interfaces operated directly on-site by technicians. Disruptions to such systems could affect the food supply chain, particularly when temperature changes are not detected promptly.
