Wednesday, June 2nd, 2021
Supposed to be masterminds in Russia
Hackers demand ransom from JBS
A hacker attack on the world’s largest meat company JBS paralyzes large parts of production in North America and Australia. In the meantime, the masterminds have contacted the company and demanded a ransom. The case brings back memories of the cyber attack on a large US pipeline a few weeks ago.
The meat producer JBS, which was hit by a hacker attack, suspects those responsible for the attack in Russia, according to the USA. JBS told the Washington government that a ransom demand had been received from a criminal organization based in Russia, said US presidential spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. “The White House is in direct contact with the Russian government on this matter.”
It has been made clear to Moscow that responsible states offer no shelter to software extortionists. The FBI is investigating. The Ministry of Agriculture has offered JBS help and is in contact with management.
The world’s largest meat company based in Brazil had previously made public that information systems at North American and Australian locations were the target of a cyber attack over the weekend. The attack paralyzed JBS production in Australia and affected Canada and the United States. The abattoir had to be closed in JBS factories in several US states. Andre Nogueira, US boss of the group, announced that the majority of the plants in the US would start operations again by Wednesday.
In the USA, the state and business are currently fighting a wave of attacks with such blackmail software – called “ransomware”. The data of the attacked systems are encrypted. The hackers demand cash payments in cryptocurrency so that they can unlock access again and not publish the data. Most recently, the pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline admitted the payment of $ 4.4 million to a group of hackers whose attack had massively affected the gasoline supply on the US east coast.
According to analysts, the production downtime at the major JBS has already reduced the number of cattle and pigs slaughtered in the US noticeably. If operations are not restarted soon, meat prices in the US could rise and the booming export business to China could be affected, the experts said.
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