Hot on the heals of the recent cyber attack against Americold – The Atlanta-based company which has over 245 temperature-controlled warehouses and manages over 1 billion cubic feet of storage worldwide – comes the news that a 2nd U.S. based food distributor has been hit.
Sysco – The Texas-based multinational which provides food services such as kitchen equipment, tablewares, and wholesale food to hotels, healthcare organisations, schools and restaurants worldwide announced on the 3rd May 2023 that they had been hit with a cyber attack that has seen sensitive information, including business, customer, and employee data stolen.
Detailed in the companies SEC 10-Q Quarterly Report, Sysco stated:
“On March 5, 2023, Sysco became aware of a cybersecurity event perpetrated by a threat actor believed to have begun on January 14, 2023. Immediately upon detection, Sysco initiated an investigation, with the assistance of cybersecurity and forensics professionals.
The investigation determined that the threat actor extracted certain company data, including data relating to operation of the business, customers, employees and personal data.
This data extraction has not impacted Sysco’s operational systems and related business functions, and its service to customers continued uninterrupted.
Sysco also notified federal law enforcement. The investigation is ongoing, and Sysco has begun the process of preparing to comply with its obligations with respect to the extracted data.”
Who are Sysco?
Founded in 1969, Sysco has grown to become Sysco the world’s largest broadline food distributor*; it has more than 700,000 clients in a wide array of fields.
In 2022, Sysco’s sales revenue was in excess of USD $68B.
The company operates approximately 330 distribution facilities worldwide; providing service to over 90 countries.
Sysco international Operating Companies outside the U.S. and Canada are located in the Bahamas, Ireland, Costa Rica, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Luxembourg, Panama and Belgium.
*Broadline distributors handle larger volumes of different types of products and are most often utilised by grocery stores and other larger retail foodservice chains and businesses
In the US, Sysco operates a customised distribution operation, serving quick-service chain restaurant locations under the brand name SYGMA.
Operating in the UK, Sysco runs five separate food distributers / wholesalers including Brakes bakery, Fresh Direct, M&J Seafood, Wild Harvest and KFF.
Since 2021, Sysco has been in the process of consolidating all the above companies into one managed distribution organisation under the name “Sysco Speciality Group” allowing customers to source fresh produce, fish, deli, ingredients and regional food in the same order.
Consolidating multiple companies under one brand may be a cost efficient solution to hotels, restaurants, etc. but this could also be a major issue if they all become affected by a cyber attack such as the ones affecting Sysco & Americold.
With current global food prices constantly rising, attacks on the food distribution network could cause even greater hardships for many.