Empty shelves after the largest distributor of natural and organic food in the United States suffers from cyberattack
A series of cyberattacks affecting the retail industry continue, with the latest victim being United Natural Foods, one of the largest wholesale distributors of health and specialty foods in the United States.
Unite Natural Foods (UNFI) offers organic products to All Foods, Amazon, Target and Walmart, among others, and many others, revealed in a filing with the SEC that it “activates its incident response response program and implements certain systems, including some off-line.”
The company said it investigated the size of the problem with the assistance of security experts and informed law enforcement agencies, while investigating the size of the problem.
UNFI’s problems undermine its ability to fulfill orders, resulting in delays or cessation of delivery. Grocery partners such as Whole Foods, cooperatives and independent stores report that they are facing a shortage of produce, dairy, frozen goods and freshly prepared items.
In a “System Update” statement on its investor website on Wednesday, UNFI said it is “steadily” restoring its IT operations and has begun to bring gradually [its] Online ordering and receiving features. ”
UNFI has not shared details of the exact nature of the cybersecurity incident it has experienced, but I think no one would be surprised if it was later declared a ransomware attack.
Currently, no ransomware group claims responsibility for the attacks on United Natural Foods, which may indicate that negotiations are currently underway on ransom payments.
One thing that is obvious who is responsible for the IT issues of United Natural Foods. Distributors are high-value targets for cybercrime gangs for very simple reasons. Not only will they stop the delivery of orders, but they will risk the goods that inevitably damage their reputation.
Ransomware gangs know that retail is under great pressure to get back on their feet after a cyber attack, so they may be under greater pressure to resolve the incident by paying ransoms than other types of businesses.
Other industries working in the retail sector have suffered from ransomware gangs in recent weeks, including Mark & Spencer, co-ops, luxury jeweler Cartier, Fashion Outlet North Face, and other supermarket distributor Peter Green Chill.
