Ransomware Attack Targets Supply Chain Management Software Provider Blue Yonder

Supply chain management software provider Blue Yonder has reportedly been hit by a ransomware attack that affected customers like Starbucks and U.K. grocery chain Morrisons.

Blue Yonder’s systems were disrupted by a Thursday (Nov. 21) “ransomware incident” and it said Monday (Nov. 25) that it will continue to communicate with customers about the incident, Bloomberg reported Monday.

“Since learning of the incident, the Blue Yonder team has been working diligently together with external cybersecurity firms to make progress in their recovery process,” company spokesperson Marina Renneke said in the report. “We have implemented several defensive and forensic protocols.”

The report said that Starbucks, which uses Blue Yonder software to schedule shifts and track retail workers’ hours in North America, has had to turn to pen and paper for these tasks — though the cyber incident has not affected the coffee retailer’s customer service or store hours.

At Morrison’s, the incident impacted warehouse management systems, but the grocery chain’s stores are now running on back-up systems, according to the report. Similarly, Sainsbury’s and Asda said they used Blue Yonder but have back-up systems in place.

Blue Yonder said Monday that it didn’t know when services would be restored, the Wall Street Journal reported.

These reports come about two weeks after grocery giant Ahold Delhaize said a number of its pharmacies and eCommerce operations were affected by a cybersecurity issue within its U.S. network and the company’s mitigating actions.

Ahold Delhaize said at the time that its security teams began an investigation with the assistance of external cybersecurity expects immediately upon detecting the issue, that it notified law enforcement and that its teams were taking steps to assess and mitigate the issue.

With cyberattacks now possible at a scale many businesses may not be equipped to address, companies must prioritize security from the top down, PYMNTS reported Nov. 13.

“The barrier for entry has never been lower for threat actors,” Discover® Global Network Chief Information Security Officer Sunil Mallik told PYMNTS in an interview posted in July.

The growing prevalence of ransomware attacks in particular is forcing enterprises of all shapes and sizes to rethink their cybersecurity strategies.