As a recruiter in the food and fresh produce industry, I spend most of my time speaking with clients about people, not passwords. But over the past few months, even from the outside looking in, it’s become impossible to ignore the rising importance of cybersecurity.
At MorePeople, we are exposed to a monthly training to achieve a Cyber Essentials qualification, just to ensure we are as safe as possible, as you can imagine having a potential leak of data could be disastrous to the clients and candidates we work with.
It’s impossible to ignore with two-factor authentication seemingly required to log in to everything and phishing emails coming through daily, as well as the ever-present request for Gift cards as a reward for staff.
The recent cyberattacks on Marks & Spencer and Co-op have been headline news, no doubt spoken about in boardrooms across the food sector and even brought up in my friendship group, to which I jokingly exclaimed IT recruitment isn’t my field. The fallout has impacted everything from customer orders to supply chain logistics, and the ripple effect has reached every corner of the industry.
M&S’ recent hit by a major cyberattack is estimated to be costing the retailer £43 million a week in lost sales. That’s on top of serious reputational damage and the start of legal action from affected customers. Meanwhile, Co-op faced a data breach that forced systems offline and caused significant disruption to stock availability in its stores.
These are big names. Big businesses. And while most of us recruiting for or working in the food industry may not be cybersecurity experts, the message is pretty clear: this stuff matters.
So why does it matter for the rest of us?
From what I’ve read and the conversations I’ve had, there are three big reasons why everyone in the food supply chain, including growers, producers, distributors, and retailers, needs to be thinking about cybersecurity:
For consumers, it’s about trust. When online services go down or personal data is breached, it damages confidence, and trust is hard to win back.
For retailers, it's not just a tech problem, it's a business continuity problem. The M&S situation shows how cyberattacks can bring trading to a halt and cost millions.
For suppliers, when systems go down, so do supply chains. Delays, miscommunication, and stock issues start to snowball, and everyone pays the price.
What’s the takeaway?
As someone who works in recruitment, my focus is on people. And what I take from all this is that cyber resilience isn’t just about systems, it’s about having the right people in place to spot risks, provide training, lead during a crisis, and build a culture of responsibility and preparedness.
You don’t need to be a tech whiz to appreciate how vital this is. Just like food safety or compliance, cybersecurity is becoming a core business priority even if you’re not working in IT!
So if you’re running a food or fresh produce business and you’re not already thinking about cybersecurity, the events at M&S and Co-op are a loud wake-up call.
And if you're hiring, whether it's for IT, logistics, operations, or any leadership role, it might be time to ask: does this person understand how digital risks could affect our business?
Because these days, cybersecurity isn’t just a ‘tech thing’. It’s everyone’s business.
