A prominent software supply-chain company, serving grocery stores in the US and UK as well as Fortune 500 enterprises, reported experiencing a ransomware attack over the weekend. The incident targeted Blue Yonder, a software firm based in Arizona that was acquired by Panasonic in 2021, impacting a private cloud computing service utilized by certain clients, while the company’s public cloud environment remained unaffected.
A representative from Blue Yonder did not provide information regarding the specific clients impacted, including those in the United States. However, communications from Blue Yonder to its customers, which were reviewed by CNN, indicate that the company is actively collaborating with its US-based clients to minimize any adverse effects. On November 21, 2024, Blue Yonder acknowledged disruptions to its managed services hosted environment, attributing these issues to a ransomware incident, as stated in an initial public announcement on Friday. In a subsequent update on Saturday, the company reported making “steady progress” in its recovery efforts but did not provide a timeline for full restoration.
The immediate repercussions were notably felt in the United Kingdom, where two of the four largest grocery chains informed CNN that they were implementing measures to address the outage. A spokesperson for Morrisons, which operates nearly 500 grocery stores across the UK, stated, “We have reverted to a backup process, but the outage has affected the smooth flow of goods to our stores.”
Additionally, a representative from Sainsbury, another major UK grocery chain, mentioned to CNN that the company had “contingency processes in place” to manage the Blue Yonder outage. Among the largest grocery chains in the US that utilize Blue Yonder are Albertsons, the parent company of brands such as Safeway and Jewel-Osco, and Kroger, which oversees chains like Ralphs and Fred Meyer. Albertsons and Kroger have not yet responded to CNN’s inquiries for comments.
