Whole Foods Market's primary distributor in the US, United Natural Foods (UNF), has become the latest among retailers to be hit by a cyberattack.
The Rhode Island–based natural and organic wholesale distributor detected “unauthorised activity” on its IT systems on 5 June.
UNF said it has since taken some systems offline while it investigates but is working to restore systems to safely bring them back online.
According to the Financial Times, further “temporary” disruptions to operations and orders are expected.
The food company, which relies on Whole Foods for 23% of its $31bn (£22.9bn) annual net sales, supplies fresh produce and branded items to more than 30,000 areas across North America.
In a statement released yesterday (9 June), the company said: “As soon as we discovered the activity, an investigation was initiated with the help of leading forensics experts and we have notified law enforcement.
“As we work through this issue, our customers, suppliers, and associates are our highest priority. We are working closely with them to minimise disruption as much as possible.”
It is the latest food business to be hit by a cyberattack in the last few months, as UK supermarkets M&S and Co-op, and luxury department store Harrods, have also been subject to ransomware attacks.
M&S said last month the disruption could last until July as it rebuilt systems to eradicate the attackers. However, the retailer has restored online orders this morning (10 June), weeks ahead of schedule.
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