Russian criminal groups probably hacked JBS meat supplier, White House says

Probably a criminal organization based in Russia said it was the source of a ransomware attack that disrupted the killing of JBS animals after the White House reported the world’s largest meat processors as reduced operations threatened to reduce and increase meat supplies. prices.

JBS, headquartered in São Paulo, has suffered a cyber-attack on North American and Australian systems over the past two days, halting the work of thousands of workers.

The company has encountered 7,000 employees in Australian slaughterhouses based on regular workers, with at least 3,000 workers being suspended in Canada and the US.

On Tuesday, JBS said it had made progress in resolving the problem and that most of the plants would be up and running soon. A union representative said, however, that at least one shift had been canceled on Wednesday at the company’s Greeley, Colorado plant.

The event, which was first discovered on Sunday, is the latest a chain of cyberattacks to companies with important economic roles, including rescue software that stopped spills into the Colonial pipeline last month, an essential fuel artery for the U.S. east coast.

As drivers became more concerned about gas shortages during the colonial break, the agricultural business raised concerns about JBS. “With JBS controlling about 20% of meat processing in the U.S., such security attacks could have massive consequences on our national food supply,” the U.S. National Union of Farmers said. On Twitter.

The White House was sending a message that it was “directly involved with the Russian government on this issue and that state officials are not protecting ransomware criminals,” spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.

Jean-Pierre added that he was investigating the FBI attack and that U.S. President Joe Biden had directed the administration to look for ways to alleviate supply disruptions.

JBS said it had taken immediate action when it determined it was the target of an organized cyberattack, including suspending the affected systems and notifying authorities. The group said the attacks hit some servers that support Australian and North American information technology systems.

“The company does not currently have any evidence that customer, supplier or employee data has been compromised or misused as a result of the situation. The resolution of the incident will take time, which could delay some transactions with customers and suppliers,” JBS said.

In the U.S., the company closed its meat plant in Cactus, Texas, on Tuesday, the facility announced on Facebook. Shifts at the Greeley cow factory (the company’s largest slaughterhouse in the U.S.) were also canceled, according to a union representative.

The closure has caused the U.S. Department of Agriculture to delay reporting on livestock and meat prices, citing “shipping shipping problems.”

JBS has suspended shifts at a cattle farm in Brooks, Alberta and has not indicated when it will be able to process cows, pigs and sheep at 47 facilities in Australia, according to people familiar with the matter.

Matt Journeaux, an official with the Australian Meat Industry Workers Union, said JBS workers arrived at work on Monday morning and told them they had stopped as a result of the attack.

“This will affect food production. It depends on the duration of the blackout. JBS exports about 60% of what it processes to make some foreign customers lighter, ”he said.

Cattle futures declined in the hope that herds would make it out of slaughterhouses, as Chicago’s benchmark contract fell nearly 4% at one point on Tuesday.

The meat processing industry has software and computer systems for tracing and classifying animals, as well as keeping records to comply with regulatory requirements.

Dalmo Veras, general manager of the 313X Brazilian cybersecurity team, said: “These types of attacks are more normal than we think and the worst are the ones we don’t know.”

Additional report by Emiko Terazono in London