JBS canceled shifts at large US and Canadian meat plants on Tuesday after the company was forced to stop its slaughter of livestock after it was hacked by cyber criminals based in Russia.
JBS is the world’s largest meatpacker and the incident caused its Australian operations to shut down on Monday and has stopped livestock slaughter at its plants in several U.S. states.
The ransomware 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 U.S. Southeast.
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.
By Benjamin Cox on June 1, 2021 at 10:43am
JBS in Beardstown has no kill floor production today as their company is reeling from a weekend cyber attack in Australia.
JBS has canceled multiple shifts across the U.S. And Canada today after the company was hit by a cyberattack over the weekend, according to unions and company social media posts.
Reuters reports the attack caused JBS’s Australian operations to shut down on Monday. The company, the world’s largest meatpacker, said it was working to resolve the incident.
In a released statement yesterday, the company said an organized cyber attack affected servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems. The United States Cattlemen’s Association, an industry group, said on Twitter that it had reports of JBS redirecting livestock haulers who arrived at plants and were to unload animals for processing.