Pentagon Probes Freezer Cyberattacks Amid French Supermarket Outages
U.S. military investigates freezer failures linked to suspected cyberattacks after similar incidents in France.
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The U.S. Pentagon is investigating a string of freezer malfunctions at military base commissaries in late August, treating them as a suspected cyberattack, according to four officials. Investigators are collaborating with French authorities, who are also dealing with a similar incident that caused millions in damage to supermarket freezers.
Reuters reports that at least six U.S. military base commissaries were affected, based on Facebook posts and website updates. In one instance, investigators found that someone had manually increased freezer temperatures overnight, leaving food spoiled by morning. At Fort Huachuca in Arizona, the base’s Facebook account reported that a freezer had entered defrost mode, heating up all the food and leaving it spoiled.
France Cyberattack Disrupts Supermarkets
French authorities are investigating a cyberattack that struck commercial freezers in October, affecting over 350 establishments and causing widespread disruption. Some refrigeration units caught fire due to excessive heat, with one supermarket owner estimating damage in the tens of millions of euros. The attack reportedly targeted refrigeration controls made by Danfoss, and also impacted electronic shelf labels used for in-store pricing.
Dominique Schelcher, president of Coopérative U, confirmed the incident, calling it “extremely serious.” He stated that a cyberattack had affected refrigeration production facilities across several stores in his network. The losses are expected to climb into the millions of euros as shops discard spoiled food.
International Cybersecurity Collaboration
The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division’s Cyber Field Office is working with French law enforcement on the investigation, which is described as “refrigeration outages in Europe.” A unit of U.S. Cyber Command is also coordinating with other agencies. The Pentagon emphasized its close coordination with interagency and law enforcement partners.
Many of the refrigeration units affected in France used controllers made by Danfoss, some of which were obsolete or running outdated firmware. Danfoss has previously noted that its systems were targeted in 2022 by hackers in Russia and Israel. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
This is not the first instance of refrigeration systems being hacked. In December 2025, a Ukrainian woman was accused of disabling refrigeration at a meatpacking facility, ruining over 2,000 pounds of meat.
Source: Breitbart
