Agricultural
21 June, 2021
JBS confirms hacker payment
The owners of the Beef City feedlot, JBS USA have confirmed they paid the equivalent of USD$11 million ransom in response to the criminal hack against its operations.
At the time of payment, the vast majority of the company’s facilities were operational.
JBS USA CEO, Andre Nogueira, said after consultation with internal IT professionals and third-party cyber-security experts, the company made the decision to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated.
“This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally,” he said.
“However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers.”
Mr Nogueira said the FBI stated this is one of the most specialised and sophisticated cyber-criminal groups in the world.
JBS USA’s ability to quickly resolve the issues resulting from the attack was due to its cyber-security protocols, redundant systems and encrypted backup servers.
The company spends more than $200 million annually on IT and employs more than 850 IT professionals globally.
The CEO said JBS USA has maintained constant communications with government officials throughout the incident.
Third-party forensic investigations are still ongoing, and no final determinations have been made.
Results of preliminary investigations confirm that no company, customer or employee data was compromised.
