Food Distributor Sysco Says Cyberattack Exposed 126,000 Individuals

Original article here.

Food distributor Sysco Corporation is informing over 126,000 individuals that their personal information was compromised in a recent cyberattack.

A multinational company headquartered in Houston, Texas, Sysco is one of the largest distributors of food products, kitchen equipment, smallware, and tabletop products to restaurants, lodging establishments, healthcare and education organizations, and other entities.

The company initially disclosed the incident in early May, in a Form 10-Q filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), when it revealed that the data breach was identified on March 5, 2023, but said that the attackers likely had unauthorized access to its systems starting January 14, 2023.

During that time frame, the company said, the attackers stole company data related to “operation of the business, customers, employees and personal data”.

Now, the food distributor is informing current and former employees that personal information such as names, Social Security numbers, account numbers, and other information provided for payroll purposes might have been compromised in the data breach.

The letter to impacted employees says, “the threat actor gained access to our systems without authorization and claimed to have acquired certain data.” This suggests that it may have been a ransomware attack.

According to Sysco, the attack had no impact on its operational systems and related business functions, and did not result in service interruptions.

The company says it notified law enforcement of the attack and that its investigation into the incident continues.

The notification letter sent to the impacted individuals provides no further details on the data breach, but the company told the Maine Attorney General’s Office that more than 126,000 individuals were impacted.

Sysco may face a class action suit as a result of this incident. Last week, consumer rights law firm Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz announced that it’s investigating the data breach on behalf of the impacted individuals.