JBS USA, the world's largest meat supplier, says it discovered on Sunday, May 30 that it had fallen victim to an organized cyberattack.
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In a statement, JBS said the attack affected some of its servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems.
“The company took immediate action, suspending all affected systems, notifying authorities and activating the company’s global network of IT professionals and external experts to resolve the situation,” the company said in a statement. “The company’s backup servers were not affected and we are working to restore our systems as soon as possible.”
JBS, which is the leading supplier and processor of beef, pork and other foods in the US, said there is currently no evidence to suggest that customer, supplier or employee data has been affected.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that the cyberattack on JBS affected a Canadian beef plant.
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JBS says it owns 84 properties in the U.S. and that the company has facilities in 20 countries.
"Resolving the incident will take time, which may delay some transactions with customers and suppliers," JBS said.
Former senior Department of Homeland Security official Paul Rosenzweigsaid that the latest cyberattacks on major companies (JBS, Colonial Pipeline, etc.) show that nothing is safe.
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"And the only way to be safe in this world is to take everything offline. And you can't do that and be competitive," Rosenzweig added.
Rosenzweig said the attack on Colonial Pipeline and the payment of the ransom have clearly encouraged non-state actors to attack large targets, including JBS.
“Until they actually pay the consequences, they’re going to keep doing it,” he said. “I mean, the hackers got away with $50 million or whatever it was — not bad for a week of work. Who knows what the JBS hackers will get away with?”
“As long as the Internet is a place of anonymity, criminals will be able to act with impunity,” Rosenzweig added.
Source: USA TODAY
