United Natural Foods (UNFI), a leading distributor of food products to Whole Foods and other retailers, said it was hit by a cyber attack on Monday, warning of disruption in its ability to meet and distribute customer orders.
UNFI filed Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, saying it had noticed unauthorized access to its IT systems last Thursday and began shutting down parts of its network. Filing added that the company “implemented workarounds for certain operations in order to continue serving customers as much as possible,” but said the intrusion caused continued disruption in business operations.
Based in Rhode Island, Providence is one of North America's largest grocery retailers, selling fresh produce, goods and food to more than 30,000 stores and supermarket locations in the US and Canada.
UNFI also serves as the “major distributor” for Whole Foods, a grocery chain owned by Amazon. Last year, the two companies extended their long-term contracts until May 2032.
When they reached TechCrunch, UNFI spokesman Kristen Jimenez never explained the nature of the cyberattack or said whether the intruder had requested a ransom from the company.
“We are assessing unauthorized activities and working to restore the system and bring it back online and secure,” Jimenez said, adding that the incident has been reported to law enforcement.
A Whole Foods spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.
The incident at UNFI is the latest in a series of cyberattacks affecting the broader retail and grocery supply chains in recent months. Google didn't name the affected companies following data breaches at British retail giant Marks & Spencer and cooperatives, but warned that hackers were also targeting US retailers.
When asked, UNFI did not say when to expect to recover the system.
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