Within this past year, Dole Plc or more commonly known as Dole Food Company was a victim of a cyberattack as the company had to temporarily cease operations in North America including production plants and shipments to grocery stores. (Lyngaas, 2023) This cyberattack was noted as a ransomware attack which led to concerns from customers and action by the food company to solve the situation as swiftly as possible. Lyngaas (2023) defines ransomware as a cyberattack that encrypts and locks computers until the hackers receive a payoff. CNN reports that Dole Plc tapped on the services of Fortinet, a California-based firm, that is responsible for the security software of this billion-dollar food company, several US government agencies, and other corporations. (Lyngaas, 2023) From this, we can see many customers suffer as a lack of Dole products such as vegetables and fruits are no longer available at the local grocery stores which leads to customers not buying Dole products or even finding substitutes. And with no Dole products, the company losses continue to grow financially by the day, and even more if the hackers coerce the food giant into a large payoff.

Based on the current issue, Dole Plc will most likely begin investigating on how the ransomware was able to penetrate their defenses. By examining internally, Dole Plc will have a better gauge on how these hackers were able to completely encrypt the computers of the food company. Bianculli (n.d.) suggests how many companies are susceptible to cyber-attacks based on their failures to address cybersecurity, not properly training employees and members of the company, to even not having the appropriate recovery plan. If I were the company, I would begin first checking off each possible action that could have led to this cyberattack. Dole Plc should meet with Fortinet, the company responsible for the food giant's cybersecurity, to see if there was a malfunction or a lack of detection within its software. Next, Dole Plc would investigate the manpower of the company to see if an employee was negligent of the safety and security of email, data, or passwords. Bianculli (n.d.) states how employees are usually the weakest link in cybersecurity due to lack of awareness and attention. Take for example, an internal email of Facebook being sent to a Belgium data company. (BBC News, 2021) A person accidentally sent an email containing the strategy of the social media company to the wrong email address which led to ongoing investigation and increased distrust by consumers. Finally, Dole Plc will have to address how the company plans on carrying itself in the future and avoid issues like this ransomware attack from occurring again.

Some short-term implications now would include loss of finances, loss of trust from consumers, question of the cybersecurity provided by the software, and validity of employee awareness. Dole Plc will suffer significant losses for the duration of the ransomware and even after. Financially, Dole Plc will have to deal with empty shelves in grocery stores which in turn will lead to unsatisfied customers, who then must question loyalty toward the food brand. Continuing this thought, Dole Plc will wonder if the Fortinet, the defense against cyberattacks, is the appropriate partner or if another partner will be a better fit. Then, the company will most likely undergo a set of training and procedures for each member of the food brand to assure cyber safety is a concern for each person.

Moreover, there are long term consequences after this ransomware incident that Dole Plc will have to prepare for in the future. First, Dole Plc will now have to win back trust in its company as a competent food company and it can protect against many, if not all cyber-attacks. This will be one of the more challenging assignments, as an entire continent went without Dole products due to a cyberattack. Meaning many families, shoppers, and individuals came to the store to only find disappointment. Dole Plc will have to show it is a reliable and convenient option for today and tomorrow. Another challenge Dole will have to face is funding toward cybersecurity. The company will now have to decide whether to maintain the same budget and risk a similar attack or increase the budget of cybersecurity which will require allocating funds and resources from other departments and focuses. Whatever the food giant decides to do, Dole will continue to operate in a world where cyberattacks are increasing by the margin. My guess is Dole will learn from this attack, and shape itself to be in a better position to fight future hackers and other cyber-attacks.

References:

BBC NEWS. (2021, April 20).Facebook downplays data breach in internal email. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56815478

Bianculli, L. (n.d).10 common IT security risks in the Workplace. CCSI. https://www.ccsinet.com/blog/common-security-risks-workplace/

Lyngaas, S. (2023, February 23).Cyberattack on food giant Dole temporarily shuts down North America production, company memo says | CNN business. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/22/business/dole-cyberattack/index.html

Article Link:

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/22/business/dole-cyberattack/index.html

Question:

• Provide any additional insights you gained or questions you have from reviewing the situation described (or the associated article).
• Based on the article, do you think the event was preventable? Explain why or why not.
• Relate the organizational impact of the event your colleague presented to the one in your selected article, including any similarities between the organizations (or situations) that resulted in similar impact. (LINK: https://www.philstar.com/business/technology/2023/05/24/2268726/npc-report-gcash-incident-due-phishing-attacks)