The US has confirmed that the cyberattack on food processing company JBS Foods was a ransomware attack likely coordinated by a Russian group.
According to Bleeping Computer, the White House confirmed the hack as a ransomware attack that impacted numerous JBS production facilities in the US, Canada and Australia.
JBS is the largest beef and poultry producer globally and the second biggest global pork producer. The company suffered a multinational cyberattack on Sunday but did not call it a ransomware attack at the time, however, it had hinted that this could be the case.
The form of attack was confirmed on Tuesday, however, when White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said JBS confirmed it had received a ransom demand from attackers that were likely based in Russia.
Jean-Pierre said, “Meat producer JBS notified us on Sunday that they are the victims of a ransomware attack. The White House has offered assistance to JBS, and our team and the Department of Agriculture have spoken to their leadership several times in the last day. JBS notified the administration that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization likely based in Russia.
“The White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbour ransomware criminals. The FBI is investigating the incident and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency is coordinating with the FBI to offer technical support to the company in recovering from the ransomware attack.”
This recent attack on JBS follows the recent severe ransomware incident that saw the Colonial Pipeline bring its operations to a halt following an attack on its IT systems by the DarkSide ransomware variant. The ransomware group later demanded a ransom payment to Colonial of $4.4m, which was paid in full.
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