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The Dole Food Company has confirmed that last month’s cyber attack on its systems included malicious access to employee data.
The Ireland-headquartered company — which employs over 38,000 people across the globe — made the admission in its annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week.
“In February of 2023, we were the victim of a sophisticated ransomware attack involving unauthorised access to employee information,” Dole said in its filing. “Upon detecting the attack, we promptly took steps to contain the attack, retained the services of leading third-party cyber security experts and notified law enforcement. The February 2023 attack had a limited impact on our operations.”
Dole has not confirmed exactly what data was accessed at this time, however.
The attack initially forced Dole to shut down some of its operations, leading to shortages of various foodstuffs at a range of retail outlets in the US.
“Our plants are shut down for the day and all shipments are on hold,” Dole said in a letter to its customers at the time. “All our businesses are implementing our Crisis Management Protocol to resume ‘business as usual’ post haste, inclusive of our Manual Backup Program if needed.”
The shutdown led to delivery delays lasting up to a week in some cases.
Jonathan Knudsen, head of global research, CyRC, at the Synopsys Software Integrity Group, feels the incident highlights the growing importance of cyber security to essential businesses of all kinds.
“Cyber attacks on food, healthcare, energy, and every other critical infrastructure sector are a reminder that software risk is business risk,” Knudsen told Cyber Security Connect via email. “Organisations assess and manage risk from natural disasters, geopolitical turmoil, economic vicissitudes, and other types of hazards; savvy organisations recognise the risk posed by the software they use and take steps to minimise that risk.”
“Recognising that we cannot talk about software without also talking about security and risk is a vital first step toward building a better future.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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