Cybersecurity will be the defining pressure on global food and grocery retailers in 2026 as criminals continue to exploit weaknesses across supply chains to extort money and cause maximum disruption.
That’s according to IGD’s recent Global Retail Trends 2026 report, which identified seven key issues that will define the direction of the food and grocery industry over the next 12 months.
Top of the list is cybersecurity, which is set to become retail’s “frontline” as it shifts from a “siloed IT function to a board-level strategy priority”. And it’s easy to understand why. For many retailers, it’s also about building confidence that every part of the business can keep trading, delivering and serving customers, whatever the threat landscape brings, writes Zac Warren, Senior Director of Cybersecurity Advisory, EMEA at Tanium.
In the last 12 months, high-profile retailers such as Marks & Spencer, Co-Op Group and Harrods have all been the victims of cyberattacks. Less well known are the attacks being made on other parts of the sector and its supply chain. And yet, the impact is no less damaging.
Cybersecurity tops the retail agenda
A ransomware attack on Peter Green Chilled – a UK refrigerated transport company – disrupted the company’s deliveries to Tesco, Aldi, and Sainsbury’s supermarkets. Similarly, a cyberattack on Danish dairy giant Arla Foods interrupted logistics across Germany.
What makes the food and grocery sector so appealing to criminals is down to, in part, the critical nature of produce and the limited shelf-life of items.
“[Cybercriminals have] targeted the cold chain because it operates on strict timelines,” explained tech journalist David Rand. “Every item has an expiration date, and every delivery is tied to a specific timeframe. By freezing the flow of perishables such as butter, meat, and medicine, attackers can pressure even the most resilient companies into paying.”
While cybersecurity threats are nothing new, the attacks we are seeing today are becoming more sophisticated and happening at a far greater scale. What’s more, they’re weaponising AI to accelerate their attacks by automating phishing, mimicking suppliers more convincingly and running large-scale intrusion attempts at almost no cost.
However, the same advances also give defenders new ways to detect anomalies earlier and respond faster – if they have the right foundations in place.
AI and complexity are transforming the threat
At the same time, criminals are seeking to exploit the growing complexity of retail operations. With retailers operating across point of sale networks as well as handhelds, logistics systems and e-commerce tools, even a single unpatched device or endpoint can become the doorway that takes an entire operation offline.
Faced with this kind of threat, retailers – in fact, any business or organisation with an online presence – need to prioritise three things.
The first is to create an accurate, real-time picture of the entire IT estate. After all, no system can be protected if parts of it remain hidden from view. That’s why real-time visibility is the foundation of effective cyber defence – it creates confidence in the health of the entire estate.
This includes knowing what devices exist, what condition they’re in and what software they’re running. This is often where the biggest blind spots lie.
The steps every retailer must take
Once retailers have full visibility, the next task is to ensure that systems remain secure, up to date and fully patched. Automated patching allows retailers to fix vulnerabilities quickly and consistently without disrupting operations. At scale, this reduces risk without slowing trading or logistics.
This matters because attackers constantly scan for unpatched systems across retail networks, where a single missed update on a back-office server can be all it takes to create wide-scale impact.
Finally, once retailers have full visibility and have closed the obvious entry points, the next priority is to ensure that only the right people can access critical systems and devices.
Strengthening identity security through multi-factor authentication (MFA) is the simplest and most effective step. By requiring a second verification check – whether a one-time code, an app prompt or a hardware token – MFA makes it far harder for attackers to use stolen or reused passwords to break in.
From defence to resilience
This is especially important when thousands of staff, suppliers and contractors need access to systems, delivery tools or cloud dashboards. Even if credentials are compromised, MFA dramatically reduces the chances of an attacker getting any further into a retailer’s network.
The importance of such measures is highlighted in the sixth annual Sophos State of Ransomware 2025 report, which found that a third of all attacks start with an unpatched vulnerability, while a quarter stem from compromised credentials, with phishing and malicious emails close behind.
In other words, far too many breaches are caused by what could be described as straightforward, well-known weaknesses rather than sophisticated new techniques. To close that loophole, it’s down to retailers to take action to ensure better visibility, faster patching and stronger access controls. The good news is that these are achievable, high-impact steps that materially reduce risk quickly.
Looking to 2026
But if retailers want to get ahead of the threat, they also need to shift from a reactive defence to proactive resilience. That means being able to act instantly on accurate, real-time data and resolve weaknesses before attackers take advantage. It’s this ability to respond at speed that turns day-to-day operations into true resilience.
I’ve already mentioned automation in terms of patching, but it’s now essential if retailers want to achieve the necessary speed and consistency to respond to cyber threats in areas such as anomaly detection and phishing attempts. Automation helps teams do more with less – a critical advantage in a sector balancing tight margins with growing digital estates, and a key step on the journey toward Autonomous IT.
This is important because if nothing else, 2025 showed how exposed the retail sector can be. The high-profile attacks on M&S, Harrods and others explain how cybersecurity is moving to the frontline in 2026. The retailers that act now will avoid disruption in addition to building lasting confidence in their systems and operations, protect availability, safeguard customer trust, and build supply chains that are resilient by design.
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