IT systems at UK feed manufacturer, NWF Group, hacked

There was “unauthorized access to the IT systems”​ in those businesses at “Group level”.​ 

The IT systems of the NWF Group's food division were not tampered with, however.

NWF said it has engaged external specialists and has taken precautionary measures with its IT infrastructure, including taking systems offline.

It said it is continuing to investigate the nature and extent of the incident, the recoverability of any compromised data and any effects on the operability of its systems.

The Group's businesses remain operational; the company added that its customer service teams in its feeds and fuels divisions are using alternative systems and procedures to fulfil and deliver orders. 

“In light of the complex and evolving nature of this situation, the Board has requested that trading in the Company's ordinary shares be suspended until it is in a position to provide more definitive information,”​ reported the company.

The NWF Group manufactures and sells animal feeds, sells and distributes fuel oils, and warehouses and distributes ambient groceries. 

'No one is safe'

In April this year, feed and agribusiness group, Danish Agro, was the target of a ransomware attack.

A section of the group’s IT environment was affected by the hacking event, it reported then.

Immediately following the ransomware attack, the agribusiness group announced that it was managing to have its feed factories, ordering and logistics up and running subsequent to the incident with the help of IT systems that were not hit, some workarounds and manual processes.

It was a few months before the Danish group was operating ‘as usual’ following the cyber incident.

“We are almost back to normal (90%) and have managed to rebuild our IT environment,”​ Søren Møgelvang Nielsen, communication director, Danish Agro, told us in July

“The key learning for us is that no one is safe from these kinds of attacks and, if they think they are safe, they are not,”​ he said.

It is critical to install a strong surveillance setup, so you can identity and manage an attack quickly, he added.