Crippled systems, empty shelves, disappointed customers —
all in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. It's a nightmare
scenario for every grocer, and a few months ago it became reality
for Ahold Delhaize, which suffered a cyberattack that disrupted
supply chain and e-commerce operations. The incident should serve
as a flashing neon sign to industry peers that, almost certainly,
they need to be devoting more attention to cybersecurity.
While it'd be comforting to think cybercriminals are only
interested in defense contractors, banks, hospitals and casinos,
it's the harsh reality that many grocers are attractive
targets.
Conditions that increase the likelihood of an incident include
pharmacy services and the data that goes with them, third-party
integrations that may not be properly secured, OT and IoT devices
that may not be segmented from the corporate network, and many
others.
