In February, Dole confirmed a successful ransomware attack by cybercriminals. The fresh food company currently has over 38,000 employees. The attack resulted in the breach of information of some of her employees. With the company’s active presence in over 75 countries, some employees have expressed fear over the disclosure. The company’s revelation in the annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday contains more information about the incident.
On the 22nd of February, Dole disclosed the successful ransomware attack and its effect on operations but never mentioned anything about a data breach. Statements about the attack read;
“In February of 2023, we were the victim of a sophisticated ransomware attack involving unauthorized access to employee information. 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.”
Disclosing the attack became inevitable due to customers’ complaints about delays and shortage of products. The situation escalated with a leaked memo by Texan Stewart’s grocery revealing Dole’s plan to implement a crisis management protocol including a “Manual Backup Program” as described by Dole
The leaked memo promoted speculations of Dole returning to manual operations to hasten the resumption of production and shipment with little consideration for the speed of operations.
In a bid to assure customers that things are getting better soon, Dole released another statement stating;
“All our businesses are implementing our Crisis Management Protocol to resume ‘business as usual’ post haste, including our Manual Backup Program if needed. Please bear with us as we navigate our way; hopefully, we will minimize this event.”
Although Dole is working to restore services, the North American production plant remains shut down. Dole released a memo to keep everyone aware of the situation.
