JBS

History

2021

JBS USA paid $11 million ransom to criminals in bitcoins

In June 2021, JBS USA said it paid $11 million in ransoms to criminals responsible for a cyber attack that disrupted businesses across North America and Australia.

The May 30 cyber attack forced the Sao Paulo meat giant to close all its beef plants in the United States, which account for almost a quarter of American supplies.

A spokesman for JBS Brazil said the ransom was paid to Bitcoin.

A spokesman for the White House National Security Council said that "private companies should not pay ransoms. This encourages and enriches these attackers, continues the cycle of these attacks, and there is no guarantee that companies will get their data back. "

US plant shutdown due to hacker attack

In early June 2021, a cyber attack on the world's largest meat producer JBS SA caused the shutdown of all beef plants in the United States, which provide almost a quarter of American supplies. All meat processing plants of the company and regional beef production enterprises were forced to close, and the work of the remaining JBS meat processing enterprises failed. In Australia and Canada, cattle slaughter and meat processing were also suspended.

Behind the attack on the world's largest producer of meat food JBS is the cybercrime group REvil (Sodinokibi), connected by many IB experts with Russia. This was reported to Bloomberg Quint by four informed sources who were not authorized to discuss this issue. According to the cybercrime group REvil itself, it has no equal in the field of cybercrime, and it does not need additional advertising. Among the recent victims of REvil are Apple Corporation, one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer technology Acer, one of the largest Japanese construction companies Kajima Construction Corporation, Brazilian courts and many other organizations^[1]

JBS reported that it suspended its computer systems in North America and Australia after an organized attack on some of the company's servers. The company also said the incident could delay a number of transactions with customers and suppliers.

The largest meat producer JBS attacked by hackers

The company also notified the Biden administration of a cyber attack by a criminal organization believed to be based in Russia. President Joe Biden instructed his administration to do everything possible to mitigate the impact on meat supplies.

It is unclear exactly how many plants around the world were affected by the ransomware virus attack, since JBS has not yet published this data. But the prospect of larger downtime is negatively affecting the agricultural market and raising concerns about food security. According to a Tyson report to investors, JBS is the No. 1 beef producer in the United States, accounting for 23% of all beef shipments in the country and about 20% of pork shipments.

Such attacks demonstrate the vulnerability of our country's food security system and emphasize the importance of diversifying meat processing capacities, "said one of the US senators.

According to US Department of Agriculture estimates, due to a cyber attack, the number of cattle slaughtered in the United States fell by 22% compared to a week earlier, and the number of slaughtered pigs - by 20%.^[2]

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