Bekker Logistics, a cheese supplier to supermarkets in the Netherlands, was infected with ransomware in early April this year. As a consequence, several supermarkets in the country ran out of cheese and other derivative products for three days. The Netherlands is among the 10 countries that consume the most cheese in the world.
According to the local press, the company’s automated systems were compromised, forcing employees to return to using pen and paper, in addition to interrupting the distribution of their products for three days.
“We are currently working on all startup protocols. We expect all supply chain problems to be resolved in the next few days,” explains the director, Toon Verhoeven.
The supermarket chain Albert Heijn was one of the main affected. With more than a thousand units spread across the country, the chain faced severe food shortages.
With the attack, customers were unable to place their purchase orders, causing great confusion in the distribution of food, as this process is fully automated and Bakker Logistiek’s systems have been compromised by the attack.
The director of Bakker Logistiek did not disclose further information about the ransomware or its operators, but said the police were investigating the case. However, he told the Dutch portal, NOS, that cybercriminals may have been able to infect the company through a vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange.
According to Check Point researchers, after the discovery of four zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange, earlier this month, the number of attempted attacks on companies using the tool increased by 1028%, going from 700 in the first week, to 7,200 in the second week of March.
Source: US.
