JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company, has been forced to suspend operations at several factories around the world.
The White House has announced that the lawsuit against JPS, which has more than 150 plants in 15 countries, is likely to be from Russia. JBS computer networks have been hacked and some operations in Australia, Canada and the United States have been temporarily canceled. Thousands of workers were affected.
The June 1 cyber attack disrupted production worldwide, especially in the United States and Canada, where some JBS factories are located. Weeks ago, a similar incident occurred which caused the shutdown of an oil pipeline in the United States as well.
The White House said JBS had notified it of a ransom demand from a criminal organization likely originating in Russia. The company also indicated that it is moving forward with the resumption of plant operations in Australia. Several pork, poultry and ready-to-eat plants were operational on Tuesday and a Canadian beef plant resumed production.
JBS is the world’s largest meat supplier with more than 150 plants in 15 countries. It was established in Brazil in 1953 as a slaughterhouse for landowner José Battista Suprinho. Today the company has more than 150,000 employees worldwide. Its customers include supermarkets and chains such as McDonald’s. In the United States, JBS processes nearly a quarter of the country’s beef and a fifth of pork.
JBS said it has made great strides in resolving the cyber attack and expects the vast majority of its factories to be operational before the weekend. It added that it shut down all affected IT systems as soon as it discovered the attack and that its servers Support They are not hacked. Information technology systems are essential in meat processing plants and in many processing stages.
The five largest JBS plants are located in the United States, and the shutdown halted a fifth of production in that country. Factories in Australia and Canada were also affected, but South American operations were unchanged.
The US government has recommended companies not pay ransoms to criminals, which could lead to new attacks in the future.