Starbucks And Sainsbury's Disrupted By Major Ransomware Attack, Operations Hit

Major companies, including Starbucks and UK grocery chains Sainsbury's and Morrisons, have experienced operational disruptions due to a huge malware attack on Blue Yonder, a leading worldwide supply chain technology supplier, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Last week's attack forced these businesses to turn on backup systems in order to keep running critical operations like staff scheduling and inventory control, as per the news report.

Blue Yonder, which describes itself as a world leader in digital supply chain transformation with an AI-driven platform that helps with everything from fulfilment to delivery logistics. The company, known for providing crucial software to a wide range of businesses, assured its customers on Monday that efforts were underway to restore services and resolve the impact of the attack. The disruption has raised concerns about the vulnerability of supply chain systems to cyber threats.

"Blue Yonder experienced disruptions to its managed services hosted environment, which was determined to be the result of a ransomware incident," an official statement said. "Our investigation remains ongoing, but please know that our priority is to ensure a safe and secure recovery. At this point in time, we do not have a timeline for restoration."

According to the news agency Reuters, Starbucks has been affected by the ransomware attack on Blue Yonder, impacting barista schedule management and payments as a back-end process has been disrupted. A Starbucks spokesperson told Reuters that the incident "is not impacting its customer service, and the company was working to ensure its employees were fully paid for their hours worked with limited disruption or discrepancy." I have reached out to Starbucks for further information.