JBS the world’s largest meat processing company based in Brazil, has fallen victim to a Russian-speaking gang, REvil. They have made some of the largest ransomware demands on record. The attack targeted servers supporting JBS’s operation in North America and Australia. Backup servers weren’t affected and the company stated that it is not aware of any customer, supplier, or employee data being compromised.
According to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University, JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork, and chicken in the U.S. If it were to shut down for even one day, the U.S. would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows. The executive director of Leap Market Analytics, Mark Jordan, stated that a closure that runs closer to a week would be more serious. Especially for a company like JBS, which controls around one-fifth of the country’s beef, pork, and chicken supply.
JBS has not discussed if they have paid the ransom. The FBI, and the White House have declined to comment on the subject. Meanwhile, REvil has not posted anything related to the hack on its dark web site. Although a representative known as “UNKN” said in an online interview that the agriculture sector would be a main target for the syndicate. REvil has also threatened to auction off sensitive stolen data from victims who refuse to pay the ransom.