Whole Foods' distributor hit with cyberattack; stores could see supply issues
Whole Foods' distributor hit with cyberattack; stores could see supply issues
A major food distributor that supplies items to Whole Foods and other grocers was hit with a cyberattack that could impact supply at some stores.
North American wholesale distributor United Natural Foods said Monday, June 9 that unauthorized activity in its systems forced it to take some of them offline. Forensics experts and law enforcement are both investigating, the company said in a statement.
"We are assessing the unauthorized activity and working to restore our systems to safely bring them back online. As we work through this issue, our customers, suppliers, and associates are our highest priority. We are working closely with them to minimize disruption as much as possible," the statement reads.
The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the incident "has temporarily impacted the company's ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders" since it was discovered by the company on Thursday, June 5.
A Whole Foods spokesperson said the supermarket chain is working to restock its shelves as quickly as possible and said it apologies for any inconveniences to customers.
One X user visiting a Whole Foods store said the shelves were empty, along with signs apologizing, adding "It reminds me of when the pandemic first hit."
In a Reddit post, one user shared a picture of primarily empty refrigeration shelf with a paper sign attached.
"We are experiencing a temporary out of stock issue for some products," the sign reads. "We apologize for the inconvenience and should have your favorite products back in stock soon."
Cyberattacks threatening grocery, retail businesses nationwide
Grocery and retail businesses across the U.S. and the U.K. have been subject to rising ransomware attacks, according to Keith Wojcieszek, the global head of threat intelligence for risk and financial firm Kroll.
Data exfiltration and ransomware attacks have targeted the retail sector in an effort for bad actors to receive large monetary payouts, according to Kroll. Last month the firm tracked at least 16 ransomware posts targeting retail organizations through extortion efforts.
"The biggest question right now is who's behind the chaos and disruption of these cyberattacks. Unfortunately, it's not an easy one to answer as hackers have become increasingly interchangeable and decentralized, without a clear organizational structure," Wojcieszek said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Wojcieszek added that the retail sector is highly exposed to these attacks because of its reliance on digital systems.
Other U.S. retailers have been targeted recently including Victoria's Secret temporarily shutting down its website due to a security threat and Adidas reportedly falling victim to a third party data breach.
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USA Today
6 hours ago
- USA Today
Whole Foods' distributor hit with cyberattack; stores could see supply issues
Whole Foods' distributor hit with cyberattack; stores could see supply issues A major food distributor that supplies items to Whole Foods and other grocers was hit with a cyberattack that could impact supply at some stores. North American wholesale distributor United Natural Foods said Monday, June 9 that unauthorized activity in its systems forced it to take some of them offline. Forensics experts and law enforcement are both investigating, the company said in a statement. "We are assessing the unauthorized activity and working to restore our systems to safely bring them back online. As we work through this issue, our customers, suppliers, and associates are our highest priority. We are working closely with them to minimize disruption as much as possible," the statement reads. The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the incident "has temporarily impacted the company's ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders" since it was discovered by the company on Thursday, June 5. A Whole Foods spokesperson said the supermarket chain is working to restock its shelves as quickly as possible and said it apologies for any inconveniences to customers. One X user visiting a Whole Foods store said the shelves were empty, along with signs apologizing, adding "It reminds me of when the pandemic first hit." In a Reddit post, one user shared a picture of primarily empty refrigeration shelf with a paper sign attached. "We are experiencing a temporary out of stock issue for some products," the sign reads. "We apologize for the inconvenience and should have your favorite products back in stock soon." Cyberattacks threatening grocery, retail businesses nationwide Grocery and retail businesses across the U.S. and the U.K. have been subject to rising ransomware attacks, according to Keith Wojcieszek, the global head of threat intelligence for risk and financial firm Kroll. Data exfiltration and ransomware attacks have targeted the retail sector in an effort for bad actors to receive large monetary payouts, according to Kroll. Last month the firm tracked at least 16 ransomware posts targeting retail organizations through extortion efforts. "The biggest question right now is who's behind the chaos and disruption of these cyberattacks. Unfortunately, it's not an easy one to answer as hackers have become increasingly interchangeable and decentralized, without a clear organizational structure," Wojcieszek said in a statement to USA TODAY. Wojcieszek added that the retail sector is highly exposed to these attacks because of its reliance on digital systems. Other U.S. retailers have been targeted recently including Victoria's Secret temporarily shutting down its website due to a security threat and Adidas reportedly falling victim to a third party data breach.
Boston Globe
8 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Shoppers are wary of digital shelf labels, but a study found they don't lead to price surges
Social media is filled with warnings that grocers will use the technology to charge more for ice cream if it's hot outside, hike the price of umbrellas if it's raining or to gather information about customers. Advertisement Democratic US Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania fired off a letter to Kroger last fall demanding to know whether it would use its electronic labels as part of a dynamic pricing strategy. Lawmakers in Rhode Island and Maine have introduced bills to limit the use of digital labels. In Arizona, Democratic state Representative Cesar Aguilar recently introduced a bill that would ban them altogether. A study published in late May found 'virtually no surge pricing' before or after electronic shelf labels were adopted. The study was authored by Ioannis Stamatopoulos of the University of Texas, Austin, Robert Evan Sanders of the University of California, San Diego and Robert Bray of Northwestern University The researchers looked at prices between 2019 and 2024 at an unnamed grocery chain that began using digital labels in October 2022. They found that temporary price increases affected 0.005 percent of products on any given day before electronic shelf labels were introduced, a share that increased by only 0.0006 percentage points after digital labels were installed. Advertisement The study also determined that discounts were slightly more common after digital labels were introduced. Economists have long wondered why grocery prices don't change more often, according to Stamatopoulos. If bananas are about to expire, for example, it makes sense to lower the price on them. He said the cost of having workers change prices by hand could be one issue. But there's another reason: Shoppers watch grocery prices closely, and stores don't want to risk angering them. 'Selling groceries is not selling a couch. It's not a one-time transaction and you will never see them again,' Stamatopoulos said. 'You want them coming to the store every week.' Electronic price labels aren't new. They've been in use for more than a decade at groceries in Europe and some US retailers, like Kohl's. But they've been slow to migrate to US grocery stores. Only around 5 percent to 10 percent of US supermarkets now have electronic labels, compared to 80 percent in Europe, said Amanda Oren, vice president of industry strategy for North American grocery at Relex Solutions, a technology company that helps retailers forecast demand. Oren said cost is one issue that has slowed the US rollout. The tiny screens cost between $5 and $20, Oren said, but every product a store sells needs one, and the average supermarket has 100,000 or more individual products. Advertisement Still, the US industry is charging ahead. Walmart, the nation's largest grocer and retailer, hopes to have digital price labels at 2,300 US stores by 2026. Kroger is expanding the use of digital labels this year after testing them at 20 stores. Whole Foods is testing the labels in nearly 50 stores. Companies say electronic price labels have tremendous advantages. Walmart says it used to take employees two days to change paper price labels on the 120,000 items it has in a typical store. With digital tags, it takes a few minutes. The labels can also be useful. Some have codes shoppers can scan to see recipes or nutrition information. Instacart has a system in thousands of US stores, including Aldi and Schnucks, that flashes a light on the digital tag when Instacart shoppers are nearby to help them find products. Ahold Delhaize's Albert Heijn supermarket chain in the Netherlands and Belgium has been testing an artificial intelligence-enabled tool since 2022 that marks down prices on its digital labels every 15 minutes for products nearing expiration. The system has reduced more than 250 tons of food waste annually, the company said. But Warren and Casey are skeptical. In their letter to Kroger, the US senators noted a partnership with Microsoft that planned to put cameras in grocery aisles and offer personalized deals to shoppers depending on their gender and age. In its response, Kroger said the prices shown on its digital labels were not connected to any sort of facial recognition technology. It also denied surging prices during periods of peak demand. 'Kroger's business model is built on a foundation of lowering prices to attract more customers,' the company said. Advertisement
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Whole Foods supplier United Natural Foods says cyber incident disrupted operations
By AJ Vicens (Reuters) -United Natural Foods Inc one of the largest U.S. grocery distributors whose clients include Whole Foods, took certain systems offline in recent days after the discovery of unauthorized activity on internal networks, the company said on Monday. A Whole Foods spokesperson told Reuters in an email on Monday that the company was 'working to restock our shelves as quickly as possible' and referred additional questions back to United Natural. Shares of United Natural fell more than 8% during Monday's session and closed down by almost 7% at $25.94. United Natural, based in Rhode Island, said in a June 9 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it 'proactively' took some systems offline after becoming aware June 5 of unauthorized activity on certain networks. The company said the incident temporarily hurt its "ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders.' It added that the incident "is expected to continue to cause temporary disruptions" to its operations. There have been a spate of cyber incidents affecting major retailers in the UK and the U.S. recently, including Marks & Spencer, Co-op, Harrods and Victoria's Secret. United Natural did not specify the "unauthorized activity." In the past, disruptions that caused companies to take actions similar to those it described have often been linked to ransomware incidents, where extortion-minded cybercriminals disable a firm's computers by encrypting them, promising to release the decryption key only in exchange for massive cryptocurrency payments. United Natural Foods is the largest publicly traded wholesale distributor of 'healthier food options' in the U.S. and Canada, according to its website. In May 2024 the company announced an eight-year extension to serve as primary distributor for Amazon-owned Whole Foods. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. United Natural Foods reported $8.2 billion in net sales in the 13-week period ending February 1, 2025. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
