Mysterious cyberattack cripples world’s largest meat supplier

A cyberattack forced the world’s largest meat supplier, JBS, to shut down pork and beef processing in some factories in the United States, Canada and Australia on Monday and Tuesday. It’s unclear which group orchestrated the attack, and there’s no word on when operations will resume at the affected facilities in Ottumwa, Iowa; Worthington, Minnesota; Cactus, Texas; Greeley, Colorado; Brooks, Alberta; and across Australia.

In a press release, JBS USA called the incursion an “organized cybersecurity attack” and said it targeted servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems.

“The company’s backup servers were not affected, and it is actively working with an Incident Response firm to restore its systems as soon as possible,” JBS USA said. “The company is not aware of any evidence at this time that any customer, supplier or employee data has been compromised or misused as a result of the situation.”

JBS is responsible for roughly 25 percent of all meat processing in the US, and about 20 percent of all meat processing in Australia. The company has 47 facilities and about 11,000 employees in Australia alone. An Australian government official said it could be days before production resumes in the country, according to AP.

Cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure seem to be on the rise. In May, a ransomware group took down the Colonial Pipeline and caused a wave of fuel shortages in parts of the US. It was one of the largest ransomware attacks to date, and it forced the DHS and TSA to impose new guidelines requiring pipeline owners to notify federal authorities if they fall victim to a ransomware attack.