The Pentagon is facing questions over security after hackers were suspected of tampering with freezer temperatures at six military commissaries – the US Army’s tax-free grocery and household goods stores – causing food to spoil.
In the reported incidents, freezer temperatures were allegedly changed, leaving food spoiled. Trust us when we say it was ‘spoiled.’” Reuters reported that at least six commissaries were affected. However, it remains unclear whether investigators have determined who was behind the incidents or confirmed how the systems were tampered with. However, investigators have not publicly confirmed how the US freezer systems were compromised.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also been put under scrutiny. Military commissaries are stores where service members, their families and other eligible customers buy groceries and other goods. The base wrote that its freezer “went into defrost mode where it heated up all the food. Experts suspect the incidents may have exposed weaknesses in internet-connected systems that control refrigeration temperatures. The US incidents came after suspected cyberattacks affected refrigeration systems at supermarkets in France in October. In some cases, the refrigeration problems reportedly caused fires and activated sprinkler systems. The incidents come amid wider concerns about cyberattacks on essential services. Investigations into the freezer failures are ongoing, and officials have not publicly established a link between the US incidents and the attacks in France.
The incidents took place in August 2026 and have raised concerns about the safety of systems used to store food for military personnel, a US official confirmed to Reuters. The problems reportedly affected as many as 700 stores, forcing some to remove frozen food from sale. In September, hackers also accessed data belonging to 3 million US military members, including Social Security details, according to the report.
Investigators have not publicly identified those responsible or explained how the freezer systems were accessed, according to Reuters. A Department of Defense official told The Daily Beast that a unit of US Cyber Command was responding to the incidents with other agencies and law enforcement partners. The official said the unit was “working in close coordination with interagency and law enforcement partners” in response to the incidents. French authorities had not publicly identified suspects, according to the report. In July, the FBI said hackers had targeted water operators in at least seven US states, adding that “some of that activity degraded water operations.
A spokesman for the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division also told The Daily Telegraph that US military investigators were working with French authorities to understand the cause of the failures.
