Dole Ransomware Attack Resulted in an Employee Data Breach

The Dole Food Company was subject to a ransomware attack last month and revealed on Wednesday, in the annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), how the threat actors behind the attack accessed the information of an undisclosed number of employees. 

The company is one of the world's largest producers of fruit and vegetables, operating with 38,500 employees who supply 75 countries with 300 products.

The cyber attack left the company unable to provide its usual amount of produce to stores, as customers complained of shortages for over a week in February 2023, highlighting the significance of the attack to their operations. The company claims of only limited impact on its operations and only small amounts of detail were provided at the time, while the firm investigated the scope of the incident. CBS News reported how the attack temporarily shut down North American production. 

Ransomware Attack Exposes Employee Information 

The filing with the SEC from Dole highlights "In February of 2023, we were the victim of a sophisticated ransomware attack involving unauthorized access to employee information." They continue to say "Upon detecting the attack, we promptly took steps to contain the attack, retained the services of leading third-party cybersecurity experts and notified law enforcement."

The company didn't disclose how many of its employees were affected by the breach, however if hackers stole personal information it will likely increase costs associated with the incident.

As a result of the increase of ransomware attacks on US and European businesses, President Joe Biden made a major push to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to crack down on Russian cybercrime groups. But hopes of substantive cooperation between Washington and Moscow on cybercrime dimmed with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

Recently a number of high profile data breaches has resulted in employee data being stolen. Retailer WH Smith, which operates over 1,200 stores in 30 countries, was targeted by a cyber attack, with hackers accessing data on current and former employees.