The Pentagon is investigating a series of mysterious freezer failures at US military bases that spoiled food supplies in August. Military investigators suspect a cyberattack and have contacted French counterparts who are investigating similar incidents at French supermarkets, Reuters reported, citing four officials familiar with the situation. er. According to the agency, at the end of August, disruptions were registered in at least six stores on the territory of US military bases, where servicemen buy food. In some cases, the refrigeration equipment was simply not turned off. the temperature inside the chambers rose sharply, as a result of which the food spoiled. Thus, on August 26, it was reported on the Facebook page of the Fort Huachuca military base in the state of Arizona that the freezer went into the defrost mode, heating the food. In the morning, the employees discovered the spoiled food stocks. The Pentagon did not reveal the details of the investigation and did not say whether it was possible to find out the reasons for the incident or identify the possible culprits. The representative of the department told Reuters that the US cyber command unit works in close cooperation with other state structures and law enforcement agencies. The Cyber ​​Investigations Division of the US Army Criminal Investigation Department also confirmed its involvement in the case. According to the Department, American investigators are cooperating with French law enforcement agencies to find out the circumstances of the failure of refrigeration equipment in Europe. In France, a similar alleged cyberattack affected more than 350 commercial establishments. According to Reuters, the criminals changed the temperature settings of the refrigeration units, rather than simply disrupting their operation. In some cases, the equipment overheated so much that fires broke out. One of the supermarket owners estimated the possible total loss for the country at tens of millions of euros. Experts have previously noted that systems could be relatively easy to penetrate due to outdated controllers and software. Danfoss, a manufacturer of refrigeration system control equipment, reported that some of the affected devices were running outdated versions of built-in software. At the same time, Reuters was unable to find out whether Danfoss controllers were used in American military bases. Industrial cybersecurity experts warn that connecting refrigeration equipment to the Internet creates risks for food supply chains. Systems that were originally maintained exclusively on-site are increasingly being managed remotely, which can give criminals the opportunity to interfere with their operation. So far, it has not been confirmed that the incidents in the US and France are connected, or that the outages at US military bases are indeed the result of a cyber attack. But the investigation shows that even food storage systems can become critical infrastructure vulnerabilities.