Shelves getting bare at Whole Foods? Distributor hit with cyberattack. What to know in Florida

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• A major food distributor that supplies items to Whole Foods and other grocers was hit with a cyberattack.
• The cyberattack was discovered on June 5.
• A Whole Foods spokesperson said the supermarket chain is working to restock its shelves as quickly as possible.

If you’re finding shelves a little bare at Whole Foods, there’s a reason for that.

A major food distributor that supplies items to Amazon-owned Whole Foods and other grocers was hit by a cyberattack.

North American wholesale distributor United Natural Foods issued a statement June 9 saying unauthorized activity in its systems forced it to take some of them offline. 

Here’s what you should know.

Food distributor hit with cyberattack

North American wholesale distributor United Natural Foods said June 9 unauthorized activity in its systems forced it to take some of the systems offline.

United Natural Foods is the largest health and specialty food distributor in the United States and Canada and the main supplier for high-end supermarket chain Whole Foods, according to govinfosecurity.com.

The cyberattack was discovered on June 5.

“The investigation to assess the impact and scope of the incident remains ongoing and is in its early stages,” the company told the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cyberattack could affect product availability at Whole Foods, other stores

United Natural Foods said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission the incident “has temporarily impacted the company’s ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders.”

“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,” a statement said.

United Natural Foods said it “has implemented workarounds for certain operations in order to continue servicing its customers where possible. The company is continuing to work to restore its systems to safely bring them back online.”

” ‘Temporary disruptions’ are expected at the more than 30,000 locations it serves in all 50 U.S. states and all 10 provinces of Canada.”

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.

Cyberattacks nothing new for grocery, retail stores

Cyberattacks targeting the food and agriculture sector have surged over the past five years, with research showing a more than 600% spike in attacks in 2020 alone, according to govinfosecurity.com.

The FBI published a warning to the private sector about cyberattacks, saying “the food and agriculture sector is among the critical infrastructure sectors increasingly targeted by cyberattacks.

“Ransomware attacks targeting the food and agriculture sector disrupt operations, cause financial loss, and negatively impact the food supply chain.

“Ransomware may impact businesses across the sector, from small farms to large producers, processors and manufacturers, and markets and restaurants,” the FBI said.

“Cyber criminal threat actors exploit network vulnerabilities to exfiltrate data and encrypt systems in a sector that isincreasingly reliant on smart technologies, industrial control systems, and internet-based automation systems.

“The most common means of infection are email phishing campaigns, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) vulnerabilities, and software vulnerabilities,” the FBI said.

How many Whole Foods stores are there in Florida?

According to data company scrapehero, there are 525 Whole Foods stores in the U.S., with 35 in Florida.

Top states with Whole Foods locations:

• California: 95
• Florida: 35
• Texas: 35
• New York: 34
• Massachusetts: 32

Publix leading grocery store in Florida

Florida-based grocery store chain Publix is the largest employee-owned company in the U.S. and dominates the Sunshine State in the number of locations.

According to its website, Publix has 1,407 grocery stores in eight states. There are 878 stores in Florida.

• Florida: 878 stores
• Georgia: 220 stores
• Alabama: 94 stores
• South Carolina: 70 stores
• Tennessee: 59 stores
• North Carolina: 58 stores
• Virginia: 24 stores
• Kentucky: 4 stores

Contributing: Anthony Robledo, USA Today