The world’s biggest meat supplier shut plants after a major cyber attack — here's what might help

Vegans aren't sweating it... JBS, aka: Earth's largest meat producer, was forced to shut down all of its US beef plants after a cyberattack over the weekend. The ransomware attack halted output at facilities that supply nearly a quarter of America's meat — and some in Australia and Canada. Ransomware = hijacking computer systems and demanding payment for the release of the "hostage." The FBI is blaming a Russia-based hacking group called REvil (classic). JBS' CEO said that most plants would be operating by Wednesday (aka: yesterday).

Niet good... JBS is one of four meat giants that control more than 80% of US beef processing, so this attack is raising national food security alarms. Cyber attacks have been increasingly targeting critical infrastructure. Think: pipelines, power grids, and food production facilities.

• Since May 2020, there have been 40+ publicly reported ransomware attacks against food companies.
• Last month: Colonial, the US' largest fuel pipeline, was hit with a crippling ransomware attack. That caused a run on the pumps, since Colonial carries nearly half of the East Coast's gas. Colonial paid $4.4B worth of Bitcoin to reclaim its systems.
• Last year: ~$350M worth of cryptocurrency payments went to ransomware attacks, up 3X from 2019. "Ransomware-as-a-Service" is a business now. Victims don’t want to lose their data, so they pay up.