The US Department of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division has launched an investigation into a series of mysterious freezer and refrigerator malfunctions that occurred at military bases across the country in August.
The outages, which affected at least six military commissaries, resulted in the spoilage of food and have raised concerns that they may have been caused by a cyberattack. An Army CID spokesperson confirmed that investigators are working with the Defense Commissary Agency and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service to determine the cause of the refrigeration failures.
The affected facilities include Fort Huachuca in Arizona, F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island, Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, Travis Air Force Base Commissary in California, and Fort Irwin in California. In some cases, the refrigeration units were set to higher temperatures overnight, rather than simply turning off, according to reports.
The investigation has also led to a comparison with a recent cyberattack that targeted hundreds of French supermarkets, causing large quantities of food to spoil and sparking fires across Europe. The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed the cyberattack, describing it as a "large-scale" assault that affected several major food retailers across the country.
The US investigation is being conducted in conjunction with French law enforcement, and authorities are examining the possibility that the two incidents may be connected.
NTC Report coverage is based on reporting from the original publisher.
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