United Natural Foods, the main distributor for Amazon Whole Foods, has been hit by a cyberattack. The company disclosed the breach in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday.
United Natural Foods is the largest full-service grocery partner in North America, with products delivered in over 30,000 locations, from supermarkets to independent retailers. It generates more than $30 billion in annual revenue, with over 50 distribution centers around the US. Clearly, despite its large network, it failed to prevent the attack in question.
With data breaches often proving terminal for companies, execs will anxiously await news of the full extent of the damage. Beyond the immediate financial impact and inevitable legal costs, reputational damage can be extremely difficult to come back from. Depressingly, news like this is becoming all-too-common in the US.
United Natural Foods Suffers Cyberattack
United Natural Foods, one of the largest grocery distributors in North America and main partner to Amazon Whole Foods, has suffered a cyberattack. The company disclosed the breach in a filing with the SEC on Monday, prompting its stock price to tumble by a massive 7%.
In the filing, the company revealed that it detected unauthorized activity on some of its IT systems on June 5th. In response, it took some of its systems offline. This has had a knock-on effect on customer orders, with United Natural Foods saying in a statement: “The incident has caused, and is expected to continue to cause, temporary disruptions to the Company’s business operations.”
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The wholesaler is currently conducting an investigation to determine the extent of the damage, as well as working to restore affected systems so that customer disruption is minimized.
Size Doesn’t Matter for Cybercriminals
United Natural Foods describes itself as the largest full-service grocery partner in North America, as well as the main partner to Amazon Whole Foods. It delivers products to more than 30,000 locations, from supermarket chains to independent retailers, and turns over more than $300 billion in annual revenue.
At this stage, it’s not known if the attack is the work of one or more attackers, or if it forms part of a wider ransomware plot. What is clear is that, as one of the biggest players in the food wholesaler game, the announcement will send shockwaves through the industry.
Despite its enormous size and means, United Natural Foods was not infallible to an attack. Company execs now begin an anxious wait for the full scope of the damage.
Urgent Action Required
News of high-profile data breaches is becoming depressingly familiar. Recently, payroll and benefits solutions provider, Kelly Benefits, was hit in a similar attack that exposed the confidential information of nearly half a million people. A few months prior to that, a DISA Global Solutions hack compromised data belonging to over 3 million individuals.
The common thread that runs through these breaches is a lack of sufficient resources to counteract a growing cybersecurity threat. Disconcertingly, this problem is felt right across the business. According to our Impact of Technology on the Workplace report, a staggering 98% of bosses can’t identify all the signs of a phishing scam.
Not only is this setting a bad example for junior employees, but it suggests that cybersecurity just isn’t a high priority for a lot of businesses. While recent evidence would indicate that many businesses are aware of the scale of the threat, businesses have a long way to go. Without urgent action, incidents like this will keep recurring.
