Dutch supermarkets had been faced with a cheese shortage after the Dutch transport company Bakker Logistiek had been hit by a ransomware attack last Monday.
Bakker Logistiek operates six warehouses throughout the Netherlands and supplies many supermarkets, including the Netherland's largest supermarket chain, Albert Heijn, with cheese and other food products.
The hack took down Bakker’s order system, forcing the company to return to pen and paper to process orders and regulate stocks, which led to delay in delivery of certain food products, especially prepackaged cheese.
“We could no longer receive orders from customers," Bakker director Toon Verhoeven told NOS. "And in our warehouses we no longer knew where products were. These are very large warehouses, you don't just go looking for a pallet. We also couldn't plan our transports anymore. We have hundreds of trucks, which was not done by hand either."
Verhoeven has confirmed that the company has suffered a ransomware attack, but has not provided additional information on what ransomware was used by the hackers, or what ransom they demanded. It is also not clear if any data was stolen during the attack. According to Verhoeven, the intruders may have gained access to the company’s systems via Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities.
"We're still figuring this out, so it's speculation, but I think so," he said.
Bakker Logistiek has said that its IT systems are working again and that the company is coordinating with customers to begin delivery again.