Cyber attack disrupts meatpacking giant JBS

The attackers are likely based in Russia, according to the White House

Brazil-based JBS, the world's largest meatpacker by sales, reported on Tuesday that it had made "significant progress in resolving the cyber attack" that impacted servers supporting its North American and Australian operations.

The company, which has not stated publicly that the attack was ransomware as has been widely reported, said that its systems were coming back online, and that it was executing its cyber security plans to address the issue.

The American unit of the company said that many of its pork, poultry and prepared foods plants were now operational in the US and Australia, and its Canadian beef facility had also resumed production.

Operations in the UK and Mexico were not impacted as a result of the cyber incident.

The attack led to increased pressure on a food-supply chain that is already under strain due to high transportation costs, labour shortages and production constraints.

"JBS USA and Pilgrim's are a critical part of the food supply chain and we recognise our responsibility to our team members, producers and consumers to resume operations as soon as possible," said Andre Nogueira, chief executive of JBS USA.

The cyber incident was identified on Sunday, following which appropriate steps were taken to contain the attack, the firm said. All affected systems were shut down and third-party experts were called to resolve the situation. Law-enforcement authorities were also notified about the incident.

There is currently no evidence to suggest that any supplier, customer, or employee data was compromised as a result of the cyber incident, JBS said.

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said that the cyber attack likely originated from a group 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," Jean-Pierre said, according to Reuters.

The FBI is investigating the incident.

The attack targeting JBS comes about a month after Colonial Pipeline attack, which crippled fuel delivery for several days in southeastern US states.

The shutdown of the Colonial's system sparked panic, with residents seen lining up at petrol pumps for several hours over fears of fuel shortages. Petrol prices rose as a result of fuel supply disturbance, and some filling stations also ran out of fuel.

The attackers reportedly stole over 100 gigabytes of data from Colonial Pipeline's systems and threatened the firm with leaking stolen data online if they are not paid.

Bloomberg later reported that Colonial paid nearly $5 million (about £3.55 million) ransom to hackers, in return for a decryption tool to restore its disabled computer network.

Ireland's Health Service (HSE) also suffered a 'significant' cyber attack last month which affected diagnostic services and forced many hospitals to cancel appointments.

The attack was carried out by Conti gang operatives who reportedly asked for $20 million (£15 million) ransom from HSE, with the promise that they would delete the stolen data from their systems.

However, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin rejected the offer, saying the government would not pay any ransom to the hackers who disrupted health services across the country.