U.S. says JBS ransomware attack likely from Russia
The world's largest meat producer canceled shifts at its U.S. and Canadian meat plants on Tuesday, after JBS said it was hit with a crippling cyberattack over the weekend that threatened to disrupt food supply chains and further inflate food prices.
The White House announced on Tuesday that the attack was ransomware and that it originated from a criminal organization likely based in Russia.
The White House also said it had contacted the Russian government about the attack, which is being in investigated by the FBI, adding that it was "delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals."
The attack, which JBS said it discovered on Sunday, comes less than a month after a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, which the FBI says also originated from inside Russia, crippled fuel delivery for several days in the U.S. Southeast.
Colonial, the country's largest fuel pipeline, acknowledged last week that it paid a $4.4 million ransom to hackers.
JBS said it was working to resolve the incident, which caused the company's Australian operations to shut down on Monday and stopped livestock slaughter in JBS plants in several U.S. states.
The attack also comes at a time of rising meat prices and industry experts say it could push U.S. beef prices even higher by tightening supplies, just as summer grilling in the U.S. gets underway.
