Cybersecurity Lessons from a Floriculture Phishing Attack The floriculture sector is increasingly facing cyber incidents. It is no longer a question of *if* you will be affected, but *when*. That is why it is important for growers and buyers — and, by extension, the entire floriculture sector — to become more resilient to cyber incidents. Floris Kloeg, an IT Specialist at Ter Laak Orchios, remembers it well. It was around a quarter past six in the morning on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, when he received a message via WhatsApp from a colleague. The colleague had received an email from a member of staff at Riza Growers, the growers’ collective of which Ter Laak Orchios is a part. The sender’s name was correct, as was the email address. The layout looked genuine, too. Yet, Floris’s colleague thought: something isn’t quite right. “He’s never been in contact with that Riza employee. And the content of the email was vague as well,” says Floris. “We checked it out and sure enough: it wasn’t genuine.” From a Single Wrong Click to Crop Damage What had happened? The Riza Growers employee had clicked on the wrong link in a phishing email. This gave cybercriminals access to his email account, and they sent emails in his name to around 125 contacts. This is how the phishing email spread within the floriculture sector. Floris acted quickly. “We blocked the employee’s account at around a quarter to seven. We informed the recipients of the email as quickly as possible.” As a result, the ultimate damage was limited. “We reported it promptly to Royal FloraHolland, which was able to link this incident to a number of other cyber incidents,” says Floris. In collaboration with organizations including the National Cyber Security Centre, Royal FloraHolland traced the source of the attack.