Following the cyberattack on the US subsidiary of JBS, the largest meat producer in the world, fears are growing of a possible rise in meat prices in the market.
According to a report, 20% of meat production in the United States was affected. “It is rumored that there will be a great shortage of meat when one of the largest production companies is affected, because we are going to run out of merchandise,” said an interviewee.
“We are not going to eat meat anymore, I think. We are going to have to go on a diet, “said a consumer concerned about the shortage that the cyberattack could cause and, as a consequence, the rise in prices.
It would not be the first that in the face of similar situations, Americans react with panic, causing the collapse and shortages of the markets.
This Monday, through a statement, the multinational announced that “JBS USA turned out to be the target of an organized cybersecurity attack, which affected some of the servers that support its computer systems in North America and Australia.”
A ransom request came to JBS in the US from “a criminal organization probably based in Russia” after the cyber attack that reached the processing chain in Australia and North America.
We know that it is an attack in which a reward is being requested, in exchange for having access to the operation of the company again, ”said Rodrigo Villareal, a cyber expert.
Closure of producing plants
As a consequence, several plants and services were canceled. “The slaughterhouse and manufacturing shifts were canceled on Monday. A Wisconsin factory reported that there would be no production that day. Another from Utah announced the suspension of activity also on Monday, while in Iowa the closure was partial, with only four departments paralyzed. The JBS division in Canada canceled some operations on Monday and during the early hours of this Tuesday”, published a report.
For her part, a White House spokeswoman said Joe Biden offered assistance to JBS and that the Department of Agriculture is in contact with those responsible for the company. The FBI investigates the incident, while the Agency for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security (CISA) offers technical support to the company.
“JBS notified the administration that the ransom demand came from a criminal organization probably based in Russia. The White House is engaging directly with the Russian government in this matter and conveys the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals,” said White House Under Secretary of Press, Karine Jean-Pierre.
This incident occurs less than a month after the cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest fuel distribution networks in the US According to El País, the firm “had to disburse $ 4.4 million to hackers to unblock their systems ”.
JBS, based in Brazil, specializes in processed products based on beef, chicken and pork. It has a presence in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.