World’s Biggest Meat Producer, JBS, Hacked In Organized Attack

JBS USA, the world’s largest meat processor, was the victim of a cyberattack that the Greeley, Colorado company called “organized,” which affected its IT systems in North America and Australia.

When the infiltration was detected on Sunday (May 30), the company “took immediate action,” suspending the systems and notifying the appropriate authorities, JBS USA said in a statement on Monday (May 31). It then mobilized its global network of IT pros and third-party cybersecurity experts to fix the problem. JBS indicated that its backup servers were not affected by the hack.

JBS, which is a leading processor of beef, pork and other prepared foods in the U.S., also said it is “actively working with an incident response firm” to get the servers back up and running smoothly, per the statement. The fix is anticipated to take time and could result in delays.

The company indicated that there is currently nothing indicating that data from customers, suppliers or employees was compromised in the attack.

The Colonial Pipeline hack last month reportedly cost the company $5 million in ransom, which it paid to the fraudsters in order to take back control of its fuel shipping system. The threat of cyberattacks has grown to the point of being an “epidemic,” Black Kite Chief Security Officer Bob Maley told PYMNTS.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a special task force to work on preventing ransomware and other cyberattacks, which surged during the COVID-19 pandemic along with reliance on computer networks. The task force’s priorities include extended training, expanded resources and the sharing of intelligence between departments.

PYMNTS’ May Digital Fraud Tracker, done in collaboration with PayPal, indicated that credential stuffing — the automated injection of breached username/password combinations — is a growing trend in cybercrime. Jason Ordway, chief technology officer of Slice, told PYMNTS that the dark web has millions of stolen records and database