Pentagon suspects cyberattack as freezers heat up at 6 US military bases

The Pentagon is investigating a suspected cyberattack after freezers at six U.S. military bases heated up overnight, according to Reuters. At Fort Huachuca in Arizona, one freezer flipped into defrost mode and turned up the heat on all the food. By morning, large amounts of food had wilted or melted.

The Army’s cyber investigators and U.S. Cyber Command are now on the case. They’re also talking to France, where hackers broke into commercial freezers at more than 350 supermarkets earlier this month. Some of those units caught fire, Reuters reports.

The timing is spicy. Just days before the freezer freakout, the Pentagon ordered every major U.S. military base to prepare to run for at least 90 days without outside electricity, fuel, water or supplies, in case of a major war.

That order alone doesn’t prove a link, and the Pentagon hasn’t blamed anyone yet. For now, the freezer mystery remains a suspected cyberattack, and the investigation is ongoing.