Supplier for Aldi, Tesco and Sainsbury's 'held to ransom' in cyber attack

Daily Record

21-05-2025

The UK high street continues to be affected in a strong of cyber attacks.
The UK high street continues to be the target for cyber hackers. This time it has affected a supplier for some of the country's biggest supermarkets.
Logistics firm Peter Green Chilled, whose clients include Aldi, Tesco and Sainsbury's, confirmed that it is being held to ransom by cyber hackers after an attack that happened last week.
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Based in Somerset, the firm has said that it is "relatively small" compared to some of the larger UK food distributors, although the attack is said to highlight the challenges smaller firms are facing.
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The attack, which is said to have taken place on Wednesday evening, was confirmed in an email that has been seen by the BBC, although the distributor has said it is "not in a position to discuss further."
A ransomware attack is when a malicious software encrypts a victim's data, making it inaccessible. Hackers will then usually demand a ransom payment in exchange for the encryption key to reinstate access and control.
In response to the ransomware attack, Peter Green Chilled is said to have provided its clients with "regular updates" and also "workarounds" on how to continue its deliveries, although one has said thousands of products could potentially go to waste.
Managing Director Tom Binks said: "The transport activities of the business have continued unaffected throughout this incident."
However, one of the firm's clients, Black Farmer founder Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, is said to have "something like ten pallets worth of meat" just sitting around, which could lead to them being "thrown in the bin."
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Emmanuel-Jones added: "There's no information. Everything along the chain has to be stopped, and then there are thousands of pounds worth of product that are just wasting away."
It's just the latest in a string of cyber attacks that have been happening across the UK high street over the past month.
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M&S was the first known retailer to be targeted by ransomware group Scattered Spider, with all online deliveries and shopping orders being halted since Friday, April 25.
The cyber attack hasn't just affected shopping orders, as the retailer's supply chain has also been affected, leading to empty Food Hall shelves, leading to a loss of potentially £1bn.
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Since the attack, we recently reported how the high street firm is facing a multi-million pound court action by Scottish customers after it was discovered that the cyber attack had led to personal data being stolen.
The Co-op was also a target after a ransomware group calling itself Dragonforce infiltrated its IT systems last month, stealing the data of millions of customers signed up to the supermarket's loyalty scheme.
In more recent news, the Co-op confirmed it is now in "the recovery phase" after it took early action that restricted access to its systems, with availability online and in store set to begin going back to normal this weekend.