According to an exclusive report published by Reuters, the Pentagon is treating a series of mysterious freezer malfunctions at various US military bases as a suspected cyberattack. In late August 2026, refrigeration failures affected at least six military commissaries, which are on-base grocery stores serving military personnel and their families. Affected locations included Fort Huachuca in Arizona, Fort Irwin in California, and Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island.
At Fort Huachuca, officials reported that the freezers entered defrost mode and heated the food, causing it to spoil. However, the cause remains unconfirmed. Attackers remotely overrode the temperature controls and turned the heat up. This forced systems into a permanent “defrost mode” that systematically ruined immense stockpiles of food.
Possible French Connection
Meanwhile, a similar cyberattack disrupted supermarket refrigeration systems in France earlier in October 2026. This involved cyber-attackers taking control of commercial cooling units at more than 350 establishments across France. Early reports identified around 150 Intermarché stores among those affected. The Coopérative U supermarket group also reported disruptions. In France, attackers raised refrigeration temperatures overnight, with some units reportedly reaching 50°C (122°F). Authorities also reported fires and substantial food losses. Some cooling units were set to temperatures as high as 50°C (122°F). In a number of French supermarkets, the refrigeration units caught fire.
Reuters could not establish the investigation’s progress or whether investigators had reached any conclusions. Separately, France’s cybersecurity agency, CERT-FR, confirmed compromises involving internet-connected refrigeration controllers from Danfoss, Copeland, and Dixell. The Pentagon confirmed that a Cyber Command unit was coordinating with other agencies and law enforcement.
The Pentagon is also presently investigating whether the suspected attack affected systems beyond grocery stores at military bases.
US–French Investigative Cooperation
The US military investigators have officially established contact with French law enforcement. The objective of this coordination is to cross-examine digital forensic fingerprints. A comparison of the European “refrigeration outages” with the US base incidents will determine if the attacks originated from the exact same command servers.
Investigators are matching Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs). Since both attacks bypassed typical digital disruptions and instead issued direct physical commands to change temperatures overnight, the two nations are sharing operational telemetry data.
