An organized cybersecurity attack impacted the computer systems of the North American and Australian units of JBS resulting in a complete shutdown, stated the official statement of JBS USA.
The JBS cyberattack forced the company to shut down all of its nine beef plants after a ransomware attack hit its computer systems which may lead to scarcity of beef in American and Australian markets in forthcoming days.
The Brazilian-based company which is the largest meat producer in the world responded to an alleged cyber-attack. It shut down all of its nine beef plants located in Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nebraska. Utah, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan as per the reports. The cybersecurity attack also caused the Australian plants to be shut down, halting all operations.
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union stated that the pork plants remained operational as the attack was targeted towards the beef market.
The UFCW, which represents more than 25000 employees of JBS, called out the company to pay the workers who were impacted by the shutdown of the beef plants.
JBS USA stated that the cyberattack was reportedly conducted on Sunday and it was an organized breach of cybersecurity that led to delay in transactions and supply of meat to customers and suppliers across the globe.
The White House exclaimed that it is aware of the situation and pointed towards the criminal group; most likely originating from Russia to have caused this cyberattack.
The JBS administration notified the White House that a criminal organization made a ransom demand and they are most likely based in Russia.
The White House is in talks with the Russian government directly over the said matter stated the White House Principal Deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre while giving a press briefing. She further exclaimed that interruption in the business operation has raised concerns over the meat shortage in the market and for that the Department of Agriculture is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security and JBS USA to curtail a potential price surge in the market.
The company has stated that it will take time to resolve the cybersecurity breach and till then the plants will not be operational though they want to make them operational as soon as possible as it is impacting their business severely.
The JBS cyberattack may lead to an adverse effect on the price of the beef in the market and this may lead to a shortage of supply in the market as well.
The CEO of JBS USA Andre Nogueira stated that they are expecting the plants to be operational again by Wednesday as they have made “significant progress” in resolving the ransomware attack on their processing and internet facilities.
JBS owns almost one-quarter of the US beef supplies.
