The
subsidiary of Brazilian firm JBS SA halted cattle slaughtering
at all of its U.S. plants for a day last week in response to the
cyberattack, which threatened to disrupt food supply chains and
further inflate already high food prices.
The cyberattack followed one last month on Colonial Pipeline,
the largest fuel pipeline in the United States. It disrupted
fuel delivery for several days in the U.S. Southeast.
Ransom software works by encrypting victims' data. Typically
hackers will offer the victim a key in return for cryptocurrency
payments that can run into hundreds of thousands or even
millions of dollars. The FBI said earlier this month that the
agency was investigating about 100 different types of ransomware.
The JBS meat plants, producing nearly a quarter of America's
beef, recovered faster than some meat buyers and analysts
expected.
"This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and
for me personally," said Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA on the
ransom payment. "However, we felt this decision had to be made
to prevent any potential risk for our customers."
The Brazilian meatpacker's arm in the United States and Pilgrims
Pride Corp, a U.S. chicken company mostly owned by JBS, lost
less than one day's worth of food production. JBS is the world's
largest meat producer.
Third parties are carrying out forensic investigations and no
final determinations have been made, JBS said. Preliminary probe
results show no company, customer or employee data was
compromised in the attack, it said.
A Russia-linked hacking group is behind the cyberattack against
JBS, a source familiar with the matter said last week. The
Russia-linked cyber gang goes by the name REvil and Sodinokibi,
the source said.
The Wall Street journal reported on Wednesday that the JBS
ransom payment was made in bitcoin.
The Justice Department on Monday recovered some $2.3 million in
cryptocurrency ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline Co, cracking
down on hackers who launched the attack.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru;
Editing by Grant McCool and Christopher Cushing)
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