Last week, a British food manufacturer KP Snacks, was the target of a ransomware attack. The company revealed in a statement that it found out about the ransomware attack on January 28.
According to the company’s spokesperson, they activated their cybersecurity response plan as soon as they learned of the issue and hired a premier forensic information technology firm and legal counsel to assist them in their investigation.
Their internal IT teams continue to examine the problem with the help of third-party specialists. They’ve continued to keep their employees, customers, and suppliers updated on any developments.
The firm employs over 2,000 people and generates over $630 million yearly revenue. The company will not say who carried out the attack. Still, the Conti ransomware organization added KP Snacks to their victim leak site on February 6, threatening to release data taken from them.
Better Retailing said store owners got notifications informing them of the ransomware attack and stating that they “cannot safely process orders or dispatch goods.” The note went on to explain that stores should “expect supply issues on base stock and promotions until further notice.”
According to the outlet, the company already informed sellers that “no orders will be being placed or delivered for a couple of weeks at least, and service could be effected until the end of March at the earliest.”
KP Snacks will implement order caps to disperse the remaining stock in their warehouses. The firm produces McCoys, Hula Hoops, Tyrell’s, Space Raiders, Skips, Butterkist, Pom-Bears, Nik-Naks, KP nuts, and several other iconic candies.
In September, both CISA and the FBI issued a warning, stating that they had witnessed over 400 attacks employing Conti’s ransomware targeting the US and foreign businesses. The FBI said that Conti has already been linked to at least 290 attacks in the United States.
In December, researchers from security company Advanced Intelligence found the Conti ransomware gang leveraging Log4j vulnerabilities in VMware vCenter Server systems. According to their analysis of ransomware data, Conti earned more than $150 million in the previous six months.
