Meat Producer JBS Says Expects Most Plants Working Wednesday:
A ransomware attack on the world's largest meat processing company disrupted production around the world just weeks after a similar incident shut down a U.S. oil pipeline.
Brazil's JBS SA, however, said late Tuesday that it had made "significant progress" in dealing with the cyberattack and expected the "vast majority" of its plants to be operating on Wednesday.
"Our systems are coming back online and we are not sparing any resources to fight this threat," Andre Nogueira, the CEO of JBS USA said in a statement.
[...] JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork and chicken in the U.S. If it were to shut down for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.
JBS said the cyberattack affected servers supporting its operations in North America and Australia. The company said it notified authorities and engaged third-party experts to resolve the problem as soon as possible. Backup servers weren't affected.
Malone said the disruption could further raise meat prices ahead of summer barbecues. Even before the attack, U.S. meat prices were rising due to coronavirus shutdowns, bad weather and high plant absenteeism. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said it expects beef prices to climb 1% to 2% this year, poultry as much as 1.5% and pork between by from 2% and 3%.
[...] Mark Jordan, who follows the meat industry as the executive director of Leap Market Analytics, said the disruption could be minimal assuming JBS recovers in the next few days. Meat processers are used to dealing with delays because of a host of factors, including industrial accidents and power outages, and they make up lost production with extra shifts, he said.
"Several plants owned by a major meatpacker going offline for a couple of days is a major headache, but it is manageable assuming it doesn't extend much beyond that," he said.
Jordan said it will help that U.S. meat demand generally eases for a few weeks between Memorial Day and the July 4 Independence Day holiday.
Also at:
Shortages loom as ransomware hamstrings the world's biggest meat producer
Mysterious cyberattack cripples world's largest meat supplier
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FBI: REvil cybergang behind the JBS ransomware attack:
The Federal Bureau of Investigations has officially stated that the REvil operation, aka Sodinokibi, is behind the ransomware attack targeting JBS, the world's largest meat producer.
"We have attributed the JBS attack to REvil and Sodinokibi and are working diligently to bring the threat actors to justice," says an FBI Statement on JBS Cyberattack.
[...] The REvil ransomware operation is believed to be operated by a core group of Russian threat actors who recruit affiliates, or partners, who breach corporate networks, steal their data, and encrypt their devices.
This operation is run as a ransomware-as-a-service, where the core team earns 20-30% of all ransom payments, while the rest goes to their affiliates.
REvil, also known as Sodinokibi, launched its operation in April 2019 and is believed to be an offshoot or rebranding of the notorious GandCrab ransomware gang, which closed shop in June 2019.
[...] The operation claims to have earned $100 million in a single year through ransom payments.
[...] The JBS ransomware attack occurred in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 31st, causing JBS to shut down its network to prevent the spread of the attack.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 02 2021, @10:08AM (1 child)
so meat grows on trees now. I knew this genetic modification thing would lead to monumental leaps...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 02 2021, @05:48PM
Now if they can only cross the Bacon Tree with Kudzu we'll have it made.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 02 2021, @10:34AM
> If it were to shut down for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows,
I don't think Bob Dobbs would approve. Even a sub-genius can see that this system needs more slack.
Starting to look like more chicken (and soy protein) in our house, for the near future.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Gaaark on Wednesday June 02 2021, @10:57AM
How's the TCO for using Windows now?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 4, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Wednesday June 02 2021, @12:08PM (3 children)
Newscaster: There is absolutely no reason to panic. There is NO meat shortage. You do NOT need to run to the store and buy piles of meat.
[Idiots run out and empty shelves]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 02 2021, @02:12PM (1 child)
the neighbours recently bought a freezer for the basement. I wonder if they knew anything in advance...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 02 2021, @02:18PM
... or they plan on getting a "divorce" one way or another.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 02 2021, @03:37PM
Due to recent history, the "idiots" know that if the media tells you one thing, the opposite must be true (or become true real soon).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 02 2021, @07:52PM (1 child)
They're only going to be down for a couple of days. Finally, a company which has sane IT practices. You can't stop every attack, but you should be able to recover from them. These guys can.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 03 2021, @07:13PM
lmao! oh yes, these windows-using Suited Whores are soooo responsible. What a dumb, suck-ass you are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 02 2021, @09:35PM
First my gas, then my steak, what's next beer?
How hard can it be to stop these folks?
Given identification, is Internet timeout for a country an option?
Taking down crypto laundering sites seems useful as well.
Requiring painful, personal community service from folks that pay up might help as well.
Publishing clear, standards acceptable practices for offline backups, might eliminate CIO's sayiing they are safe when they aren't.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday June 02 2021, @09:56PM
It sounds like JBS has a competent IT team. Yea, ransomware was able to breach their systems; maybe they need better siloing. However, they are restoring from backup with a downtime of about a day.
Then again, they are a large commercial company. My impression is the companies most impacted from ransomware are government infrastructure, small business, or non profit. Those organizations don't have money to invest in security to begin with.