Food Industry Continues To Face Data Privacy And Security Risk

In 2014, grocers and restaurants continued to be plagued by attacks leading to the theft of credit card information. Among others, Supervalu Inc. and Jimmy John's both experienced intrusions in 2014, extending the string of intrusions and breaches in recent years that have hit stores and restaurants in the food and beverage industry.

• On August 14, 2014, Supervalu experienced an intrusion into the portion of its network that processes credit card data. This breach hit as many as 1,000 stores, including many no longer owned by Supervalu but for which Supervalu was still providing IT services. While investigating that breach, Supervalu identified a separate and unrelated incident that occurred weeks later, where malware had been installed in the portion of its network that processes credit card data.