Starbucks Corp. said a ransomware attack at a third-party software supplier has disrupted its system for tracking employee payments, forcing the coffee giant to manually track workers’ scheduling and hours.Blue Yonder Group Inc., a Panasonic subsidiary that provides supply chain management software, said its systems were disrupted by a Nov. 21 “ransomware incident.” Starbucks is among its customers and used Blue Yonder software to schedule shifts and track retail workers’ hours in North America, a company spokesperson said. Starbucks’ stores are resorting to manual methods such as pen and paper for employee scheduling, the spokesperson said, adding that the incident hasn’t impacted customer service or store hours.In a statement Monday, Blue Yonder said it had notified relevant customers about the incident and “will continue to communicate as appropriate.” “Blue Yonder experienced disruptions to its managed services hosted environment, which was determined to be the result of a ransomware incident,” said Marina Renneke, a company spokesperson. “Since learning of the incident, the Blue Yonder team has been working diligently together with external cybersecurity firms to make progress in their recovery process. We have implemented several defensive and forensic protocols.”The attack was previously reported by CNN, which said some UK grocery store chains had taken steps to deal with the incident.A representative for the UK grocery chain Morrisons told Bloomberg News on Monday that the Blue Yonder breach had impacted warehouse management systems but added that the stores are now operating “satisfactorily” on back-up systems. Sainsbury’s confirmed the company used Blue Yonder but said it wasn’t experiencing disruptions because it had a back-up solution. An Asda spokesperson said the company used Blue Yonder but was unaffected.Scottsdale, Arizona-based Blue Yonder’s customers include manufacturing, grocery, third-party logistics, automotive and restaurant companies, according to its website.How many degrees of separation are you from the globe's most powerful business leaders? Explore who made our brand-new list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Business. Plus, learn about the metrics we used to make it.
