Pentagon Treats Late-August Military Base Freezer Malfunctions as Suspected Cyberattack

The Pentagon is treating a series of freezer malfunctions that spoiled food at U.S. military bases in late August as a suspected hack, according to four officials familiar with the matter, as reported on Oct. 29. A unit of Cyber Command is working with interagency and law enforcement partners, the Pentagon said, without elaborating. The Army Criminal Investigation Division said its Cyber Field Office is involved and is working with French law enforcement on "the refrigeration outages in Europe." One official said investigators are in contact with French counterparts about a similar attack on commercial freezers that disrupted supermarkets in France earlier this month.

At least six commissaries, the on-base stores where military personnel buy food, were affected, according to a review of the bases' Facebook posts and website updates. In at least one case the cooling units' temperatures were raised overnight rather than the units simply stopping, leaving food wilted or melted. It was not clear how far the investigation has progressed, or whether it has reached conclusions about who is responsible.

HuffPost, the left-leaning outlet, runs the Reuters report under a headline stressing that the Pentagon is treating the failures as a suspected cyberattack. It leads with the officials and the official statements from the Pentagon and Army investigators, and it states plainly that Reuters could not determine how far the inquiry has gone or who might be responsible. Breitbart, the right-leaning outlet, tells the same core story under a more direct headline saying the Pentagon investigates the failures as a cyberattack. It adds vivid detail: the Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Facebook post of August 26 about a freezer that went into "defrost mode"; the French attack's reach of more than 350 establishments; refrigeration units catching fire; a supermarket owner's estimate of tens of millions of euros in damage; and its own earlier report of freezers heated to 122 degrees. It does not include the Pentagon's and Army's statements in its opening. Both sides rely on the same Reuters reporting and sources, so the difference is in emphasis rather than facts. The independent Reuters version matches the original report.