JBS SA and Pilgrim’s have announced significant progress has been made in resolving a cyberattack that has impacted the company’s operations in North America and Australia.
Operations in Mexico and the UK were not impacted and are conducting business as normal.
JBS USA and Pilgrim’s were able to ship product from nearly all of its US facilities to supply customers.
The company also continues to make progress in resuming plant operations in the US and Australia. Several of the company’s pork and poultry plants are now operational and its Canada beef facility has resumed production.
Systems are coming back online and JBS USA says it is not sparing any resources to fight this attack.
The vast majority of the beef, pork, poultry and prepared foods plants will be operational tomorrow (Thursday), given the progress IT professionals and plant teams have made in the last 24 hours.
“JBS USA and Pilgrim’s are a critical part of the food supply chain and we recognize our responsibility to our team members, producers and consumers to resume operations as soon as possible,” said André Nogueira, JBS USA CEO.
JBS USA has received strong support from the US, Australian and Canadian governments, conducting daily calls with officials in an effort to safeguard the food supply.
The company is not aware of any evidence at this time that any customer, supplier or employee data has been compromised.
John Vestberg, CEO of Clavister, said: “We often speak about the impact of cyberattacks on critical national infrastructure in relation to utilities, but this highlights the impact an attack on the food chain can have too.
“The computer networks at meat processing firm JBS were targeted with ransomware – by a criminal organisation likely based in Russia, according to the White House – with the effects felt in operations in the US, Canada and Australia. It’s warned that the attack could have lasting implications on consumers through product shortages and rising prices, similar to the effects of the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack last month.
“Ransomware is becoming an ever-more popular weapon for cybercriminals as it can offer an incredibly high return. The owners of the Colonial Pipeline admitted to paying a US$4.4m ransom to Darkside, the attacker, to end the situation and we should all hope that doesn’t set a worrying precedent.
“Combatting ransomware requires a proactive, not a reactive, response. Through the use of predictive analytics and tools like AI or ML, security teams can see malware morphing and behaving in certain ways. These are red flags and means they can be seen and caught before ransomware can cripple systems.”
