Largest meat producer recovers after cyberattack
DETROIT — The world's largest meat processing company has resumed most production after a weekend cyberattack, but experts say the vulnerabilities exposed by this attack and others are far from resolved.
In a statement late Wednesday, the FBI attributed the attack on Brazil-based meat processor JBS SA to REvil, a Russian-speaking gang that has made some of the largest ransomware demands on record in recent months. The FBI said it will work to bring the group to justice and it urged anyone who is the victim of a cyberattack to contact the bureau immediately.
REvil has not posted anything related to the hack on its dark web site. But that's not unusual. Ransomware syndicates as a rule don't post about attacks when they are in initial negotiations with victims — or if the victims have paid a ransom.
In October, a REvil representative who goes by the handle “UNKN” said in an interview published online that the agriculture sector would now be a main target for the syndicate. REvil also threatened to auction off sensitive stolen data from victims who refused to pay it.
The attack targeted servers supporting JBS's operations in North America and Australia. Backup servers weren't affected and the company said it was not aware of any customer, supplier or employee data being compromised.
JBS said late Tuesday that it had made “significant progress” and expected the “vast majority” of its plants to be operating Wednesday.
It is not known if JBS paid a ransom. The company hasn't discussed it in public statements, and did not respond to phone and email messages Wednesday seeking comment.
