The
producers of
fruit
and
vegetables
Dole
Food
Company
disclosed
a
ransomware
attack
that
impacted its
operations.
Dole
Food
Company is
an Irish
agricultural
multinational
corporation,
it
is
one
of
the
world’s
largest producers of
fruit
and
vegetables,
operating
with
38,500
full-time
and
seasonal
employees
who
supply
some
300
products
in
75
countries.
Dole
reported
2021
revenues
of
$6.5
billion.
The
company
announced
that
it
has
suffered
a
ransomware
attack
that
impacted its
operations.
The
company
did
not
provide
details
about
the
attack,
such
as
the
ransomware
family
that
infected
its
systems.
“Dole
plc (DOLE:NYSE) announced
today
that
the
company
recently
experienced
a
cybersecurity
incident
that
has
been
identified
as
ransomware.”
reads
a
notice
published
by
the
company.
“Upon
learning
of
this
incident,
Dole
moved
quickly
to
contain
the
threat
and
engaged
leading
third-party
cybersecurity
experts,
who
have
been
working
in
partnership
with
Dole’s
internal
teams
to
remediate
the
issue
and
secure
systems.”
The
company
immediately
launched
an
investigation
into
the
security
breach
with
the
help
of
leading
third-party
forensics
experts,
it
also
notified
authorities
about
the
incident.
After
a
few
days,
it
became
clear
that
the
cyberattack
seriously
disrupted
Dole’s
operations,
causing
a
temporary
shutdown
of
production
plants
and
affecting
food
supplies
to
U.S.
grocery
stores.
The
security
breach
led
to
some
Texas
and
New
Mexico
stores
being
unable
to
stock
Dole
salad
kits
for
several
days,
reported
the
website
Entrepreneur.com.
A
Texan
grocery
store
shared
on
Facebook
a
memo
sent
by
Dole
that
was
informing
it
that
the
company
was
forced
to
shut
down
its
systems
in
North
America
to
contain
the
attack.
“Good
afternoon,
Dole
Food
Company
is
in
the
midst
of
a
Cyber
Attack
and
have
subsequently
shut
down
our
systems
throughout
North
America.
Our
IT
group
is
working
hard
on
mitigating
the
issues
in
order
to
get
our
systems
up
and
running
ASAP.
Our
plants
are
shut
down
for
the
day
and
all
shipments
are
on
hold.
All
our
businesses
are
implementing
our
Crisis
Management
Protocol
to
resume
“business
as
usual”
post
haste,
inclusive
of
our
Manual
Backup
Program
if
needed.”
reads
the
notice.
“Please
bear
with
us
as
we
navigate
our
way
and
hopefully
we
will
minimize
this
event.
Thank
you
for
your
patience
and
your
salesperson
will
keep
you
updated
and
informed
of
our
progress.
Sincerely.”
At
this
time
it
is
unclear
if
threat
actors
have
stolen
data
from
the
system
at
the
food
company
giant.
Follow
me
on
Twitter:
@securityaffairs
and
Facebook
and
Mastodon
(SecurityAffairs –
hacking,
Dole
Food
Company)
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