Refrigeration outages at up to a dozen US military commissaries, investigated by Army CID's Cyber Field Office (cause unconfirmed)
Defense Commissary Agency store refrigeration and its remote monitoring and control system (vendor not disclosed)
Starting Aug 26, refrigeration at Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) stores on at least six US bases failed within days of each other, with some freezers going into defrost mode overnight and thousands of dollars of meat, dairy, produce and frozen food thrown out. Army CID's Cyber Field Office and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations confirmed investigations, with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service in the lead. The Pentagon only acknowledges a "possible refrigeration disruption" and no cause has been announced, so this is not a confirmed cyberattack; Reuters later noted it resembles the October attacks on French supermarket refrigeration controllers.
Why this severity: Food losses at up to a dozen commissaries; cyber investigators involved but no cause, vendor or attacker disclosed
- Started
- Aug 26, 2026
Affected
- DeCA commissary refrigeration systems (controller vendor and model not disclosed)
Fixed in
No fixed release yet
Timeline5
After the French supermarket refrigeration attacks, Reuters notes they resemble the late-August disruptions at about a dozen US military commissaries.
SourceDeCA says cooler outages at four commissaries in Germany and England are equipment failures unrelated to the stateside outages; no findings from the investigation have been announced.
SourceArmy CID's Cyber Field Office and Air Force OSI confirm active investigations, with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service in the lead; some stores reported their freezers went into defrost mode.
SourceThe Pentagon acknowledges a "possible refrigeration disruption at some Defense Commissary Agency commissaries" but won't say how many stores were hit or whether the outages are linked; Military Times also lists Holloman, Little Rock and Robins AFB.
SourceCommissaries at Fort Irwin, F.E. Warren AFB, Fort Huachuca, Naval Station Newport, Columbus AFB and Travis AFB report refrigeration outages and pull meat, dairy, produce and frozen food; NAS Lemoore also reportedly affected.
Source
News & write-ups6
- Commissaries across the US affected by refrigeration outagesStars and Stripes · Aug 28, 2026
- DoD confirms 'refrigeration disruption' at military commissariesMilitary Times · Aug 28, 2026
- Army, Air Force special agents investigate refrigerator outages affecting several commissary storesStars and Stripes · Sep 1, 2026
- Refrigeration failures affect 4 military commissaries in EuropeStars and Stripes · Sep 30, 2026
- When the Freezers Fail: What the DoD Commissary Incident Tells Us About OT Cyber RiskRedSeal · Write-up
- Hackers raise fridge temperatures at hundreds of French supermarkets to spoil foodABC News (Reuters) · Oct 13, 2026
Notes & caveats
Not a confirmed cyberattack: no agency has said what caused the outages, and the involvement of Army CID's Cyber Field Office is the only official hint at a cyber angle. Store counts vary: six confirmed by the installations, up to a dozen per unverified sources, 14 across 10 states per independent trackers cited by RedSeal. Fort Huachuca said power had not gone out while its freezers entered defrost. RedSeal notes DeCA refrigeration runs on a Remote Monitoring Control System that controls defrost cycles, but there is no public evidence the affected stores used Danfoss or Copeland controllers or that known flaws were involved. Not linked to the French supermarket campaign by any authority.
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