It took the complaints of customers via Facebook, who were missing their favorite salad mix in stores, for Dole Foods to become aware that they had been the victim of a ransomware attack that disrupted the company’s production.
It’s still not clear who the perpetrator was or if data was stolen, but it shows the vulnerability of the food chain and critical infrastructure in general to cyber attacks such as this one.
It also shows how stealthy bad actors can be and how much impact they can have on an organization’s bottom line.