World’s Biggest Meat Supplier JBS Falls Victim to Ransomware Attack
Ransomware attacks against large businesses and organizations are becoming common increasingly. Now that gigantic cyber wave has hit JBS, the biggest meat supplier in the world. The infection has infiltrated critical networks in the company's infrastructure successfully, causing disruptions in JBS plants in the United States, Canada, and Australia. JBS suspects that the malware actors in charge of the attack may be residing in Russia and has contacted the FBI hoping to have all affected systems restored by Wednesday, June 2. In the meantime, the crisis may turn prices up for end consumers within the affected territories.
Established in Brazil in 1953 as a minor slaughtering business, JBS now hosts over 150 thousand employees across 150 plants in 15 countries and is the go-to supplier for supermarket chains and fast food outlets, such as McDonald’s.
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Situation Presumably Under Control
JBS representatives confirmed having shut down all affected systems to prevent the attack from spreading further. As it seems, the ransomware threat has hit no backup servers, which means that JBS will be able to restore pretty much everything, once it has caught a grip on the corrupted code. However, the one thing JBS will not be able to undo is the huge mess in the company's billing and shipping departments. In the United States alone, the disruptions are likely to reduce local meat production by 20% temporarily.
The Path to Recovery
JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira revealed that company officials were on the fast track to bringing all systems back online by Wednesday. He also praised the local authorities in the United States, Canada, and Australia for helping the company deal with the crisis.
The Colonial Pipeline Debacle
Shortly before JBS admitted to falling victim to a ransomware attack, the U.S. Colonial Pipeline went through the terrifying ordeal of a similar infection last month. What is more, the latter appeared to have been delivered by a Russia-based cybergang who demanded an undisclosed ransom amount utilizing the DarkSide Ransomware threat. Now, the East Coast operator has officially confirmed paying $4.4 million on May 7, 2021, bending to the cybergang’s will effectively. This decision stands in stark contrast to the government’s officially adopted policy against money extortion schemes of this type. Fortunately, given that JBS’s backup servers have remained unscathed, a similar scenario seems highly unlikely.