Hackers pushed freezers at hundreds of French supermarkets to 122 degrees. Now the Pentagon is asking whether the same thing hit U.S. military bases - Fortune

The Pentagon's criminal investigators are leading a joint probe into freezer failures at U.S. military commissaries in August, treating them as a possible cyberattack. This comes weeks after hackers took control of refrigeration systems at hundreds of French supermarkets, raising temperatures to over 122 degrees Fahrenheit and spoiling food worth an estimated €270,000.

While there's no proof connecting the two incidents, the similar targeting of refrigeration systems within two months has raised suspicions among cybersecurity experts. "You'd be silly not to be suspicious," said Christopher Whyte, an associate professor of homeland security at Virginia Commonwealth University.

French Supermarket Attacks

Earlier this month, hackers targeted major French supermarket chains including 80 Carrefour locations, about two-dozen Monoprix stores, and 150 Intermarche stores. The Paris prosecutor's office described the outages as a "large-scale" attack, with similar incidents reported across Europe.

The damage was irreversible for the affected stores. Refrigerators give an attacker a weirdly direct route to financial loss that's, with cyber, unusually irreversible, Whyte explained. "You can't unspoil food or other products from these freezers. It's just Euros and dollars down the drain."

US Military Vulnerabilities

The Pentagon investigation follows disruptions at more than half a dozen U.S. military commissaries in August, including those at Fort Irwin, California; Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico; and Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island. These facilities typically offer subsidized goods costing about 25% less than civilian grocery stores.

The incidents highlight potential vulnerabilities in military supply chains. The USS Abraham Lincoln's recent record deployment of 265 days at sea exposed weaknesses in military amenities, with crew members facing food and hygiene supply shortages during its Iran war mission.

Cybersecurity Concerns

Cybersecurity experts warn that connected appliances like refrigerators represent emerging targets. "I'm surprised that it took so long," said Nadiya Kostyuk, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon. A lot of these devices have cool features, but security is not the first priority for them.

The French attacks exploited vulnerabilities in Danish-made Danfoss remote controllers and outdated firmware that hackers could access through the internet. Refrigeration systems are particularly vulnerable due to standardized designs across commercial chains.

Gregory Winger, a cybersecurity expert at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, noted that state actors from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea often conduct cyber incidents that appear random but are connected. The joint investigation with France serves as an information-sharing opportunity, especially as "every future military operation is going to have a cyber component to it."