One-Fifth of U.S. Beef Capacity Wiped Out by another Cyberattack

JSOP · Jun 2, 2021

themickey said:
US says ransomware attack on meatpacker JBS likely from Russia
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I thought that ransomware hacker group was shut down?

JSOP · Jun 2, 2021

themickey said:
Prices for choice cuts of US beef shipped to wholesale buyers in large boxes jumped $US3.59 to $US334.56 per hundred pounds, the USDA said. Prices for select cuts climbed $US5.55 to $US306.45 per hundred pounds.

Reuters
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All those attacks and disruptions just resulted in a $3 -5 increase per HUNDRED pounds? Wow!! That has to be one of the most inefficient attacks in terms of attack damage/ransomware $$.

On the other hand, it just gives us more incentive to diversify our food choices towards healthier alternatives. Red meat especially beef is one of the most unhealthy food. It's the food to be avoided for pretty much all cardiovascular diseases. Thanks for making us eat healthier, hacker!

JSOP · Jun 2, 2021

TimtheEnchanter said:
So the cattle feeder can check his Instagram or online betting...
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Yeah but they could still keep the operation systems offline in an intranet on separate computers on a separate network completely isolated from the internet. I mean this is what most of the companies do nowadays. This has to be an inside job.

The cattle feeder can still check his Instagram or online betting but he will just have to walk over to use a different computer that's connected to the internet. Or better yet, provide NO internet at work. Everybody's got cellphones now, why don't they check Instagram or do online betting on their cell?

themickey · Jun 2, 2021

JSOP said:
I thought that ransomware hacker group was shut down?
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No news about that.

speedo · Jun 2, 2021

themickey said:
No news about that.
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It's just possible there's more than one

JSOP · Jun 2, 2021

themickey said:
No news about that.
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I mean about the ransomware hacker group that attacked the oil producer.

Cuddles · Jun 2, 2021

themickey said:
US says ransomware attack on meatpacker JBS likely from Russia
Tom Polansek and Jeff Mason Jun 2, 2021 https://www.afr.com/companies/agric...packer-jbs-likely-from-russia-20210602-p57x9o

Chicago | Brazil’s JBS told the US government that a ransomware attack on the company that has disrupted meat production in North America and Australia originated from a criminal organisation likely based in Russia, the White House said on Tuesday.

JBS is the world’s largest meatpacker and the cyberattack caused its Australian operations to shut down on Monday and has stopped livestock slaughter at its plants in several US states.

Victim of another ransomware attack: JBS Foods headquarters in Greeley, Colorado. Bloomberg

The attack follows one last month by a group with ties to Russia on Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the United States, that crippled fuel delivery for several days in the US south-east.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the United States has contacted Russia’s government about the matter and that the FBI is investigating.

“The White House has offered assistance to JBS and our team at the Department of Agriculture have spoken to their leadership several times in the last day,” Jean-Pierre said.

“JBS notified the administration that the ransom demand came from a criminal organisation likely based in Russia. The White House is engaging directly with the Russian government on this matter and delivering the message that responsible states do not harbor ransomware criminals,” Jean-Pierre added.

JBS sells beef and pork under the Swift brand, with retailers like Costco Wholesale Corp carrying its pork loins and tenderloins. JBS also owns most of chicken processor Pilgrim’s Pride Co, which sells organic chicken under the Just Bare brand.

If the outages continue, American consumers could see higher meat prices during summer grilling season and meat exports could be disrupted at a time of strong demand from China.

The disruption has already had an impact, industry analysts said. US meatpackers slaughtered 94,000 cattle on Tuesday, down 22 per cent from a week earlier and 18 per cent from a year earlier, according to estimates from the US Department of Agriculture. Pork processors slaughtered 390,000 hogs, down 20 per cent from a week ago and 7 per cent from a year ago.

Prices for choice cuts of US beef shipped to wholesale buyers in large boxes jumped $US3.59 to $US334.56 per hundred pounds, the USDA said. Prices for select cuts climbed $US5.55 to $US306.45 per hundred pounds.

The USDA, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies are closely monitoring the meat and poultry supply, a White House official said. The agencies are also working with agricultural processors to ensure products move efficiently and that no price manipulation occurs as a result of the cyberattack, the official said.

JBS said it suspended all affected systems and notified authorities. It said its backup servers were not affected. A company representative in Sao Paulo said there was no impact on Brazilian operations.

The company said Sunday’s cyberattack affected its North American and Australian IT systems and “resolution of the incident will take time, which may delay certain transactions with customers and suppliers”.

JBS, with North American operations headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, controls about 20 per cent of the slaughtering capacity for US cattle and hogs, according to industry estimates.

“The supply chains, logistics, and transportation that keep our society moving are especially vulnerable to ransomware, where attacks on choke points can have outsized effects and encourage hasty payments,” said threat researcher John Hultquist with security company FireEye.

US beef and pork prices are already rising as China increases imports, animal feed costs rise and abbatoirs face a dearth of workers. Any further impact on consumers will depend on how long production is down, market analysts said.

“If it goes on a week or longer, you’ve got a major problem,” said Dennis Smith, broker for Archer Financial Services in Chicago.

Two kill and fabrication shifts were cancelled at JBS’s beef plant in Greeley after the cyberattack, representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7 said in an email. JBS Beef in Cactus, Texas, also said on Facebook it would not run on Tuesday.

The UFCW urged JBS to ensure workers receive their contractually guaranteed pay during the shutdowns.

JBS Canada said in a Facebook post that shifts had been cancelled at its plant in Brooks, Alberta, on Monday and one shift so far had been cancelled on Tuesday.

The United States Cattlemen’s Association, a beef industry group, said on Twitter that it had reports of JBS redirecting livestock haulers who arrived at plants with animals ready for slaughter.

Last year, cattle and hogs backed up on US farms and some animals were euthanised when meat plants were shut during coronavirus outbreaks among workers.

A JBS beef plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, said only workers in maintenance and shipping were scheduled to work on Tuesday.

Over the past few years, ransomware has evolved from one of many cybersecurity threats to a pressing national security issue. A number of gangs, many of them Russian-speakers, develop the software that encrypts files and then demand payment in cryptocurrency for keys that allow the owners to decipher and use them again.

Reuters
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was hedging China based on their "beef" w/OZ. Ransomware is not their style tho

kmiklas · Jun 2, 2021

Why do I smell a rat with these cyberattacks?

Perhaps an excuse for them to crank prices up?

themickey · Jun 2, 2021

kmiklas said:
Why do I smell a rat with these cyberattacks?
Perhaps an excuse for them to crank prices up?
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I would have thought the bad reputation and public attention one would garner admitting your computer systems are open to hacking would not be an incentive for self harm.

Turveyd · Jun 2, 2021

How do hackers stop a slaughter house? Omg my web page is down, I simply can't work !ike this, everyone just go home, but my slaughter knife isn't connected to the internet just go home!

You will eat bugs and you will claim to like it,if not no bugs and you can starve!