The world's largest meat supplier, JBS USA, has confirmed that it paid the equivalent of $11 million in ransom following the criminal attack on its IT systems at the end of May.
Plants in Australia, Canada and the US were temporarily shut down last week after the ransomware attack, which the FBI stated was carried out by one of the most specialised and sophisticated cybercriminal groups in the world.
“This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally,” said Andre Nogueira, CEO, JBS USA. “However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers.”
In a statement, JBS USA explained: 'At the time of payment, the vast majority of the company’s facilities were operational. In consultation with internal IT professionals and third-party cybersecurity experts, the company made the decision to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated.'
The company confirmed that third-party forensic investigations were still ongoing, but a preliminary investigation showed that no company, customer or employee data was compromised.
JBS USA was offered assistance after the cyberattack by the US government, which also contacted other major meat processors to ensure they were aware of the situation.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
