In an official notice published on the website of its German office, JFC International acknowledged that it had been hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted some of its IT systems and most likely resulted in a data breach.
“JFC International (Europe) was recently subject to a ransomware attack that briefly disrupted its IT systems,” the announcement reads.
The attack took place last week and apparently only impacted JFC International’s Europe Group.
JFC International is a large distributor and wholesaler of Asian food products, a subsidiary of Japanese food manufacturer Kikkoman, and has been around for more than a century. Besides operating as an importer of products from other companies, JFC manufactures its own products and caters them to retailers and restaurants.
In the press release, the company said it had notified authorities, all employees, and business partners about the possible data breach.
The company says a full forensic investigation by in-house specialists together with external cyber experts is underway.
“A full forensic investigation by inhouse specialists together with external cyber experts was immediately started and is underway,” the company said.
JFC International (Europe) is also cooperating closely with the relevant authorities, according to the official notice.
They say the compromised servers were secured and promised the service would be restored shortly.
“Normal conduct of business in Europe will be up and running after a brief interruption for security reasons. The affected servers were secured,” the company said.
At the time of this writing, it is unknown which family of ransomware was involved in the attack and whether any information had been stolen by the attackers. But it is very likely that the cybercriminal gained access to some information since JFC International described the incident as a “data security incident.”
The company didn’t provide more details about the incident.
