Largest meat producer getting back online after cyberattack

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The world's largest meat processing company is getting back online after production around the world was disrupted by a cyberattack just weeks after a similar incident shut down a United States oil pipeline.

Brazil's JBS SA said late Tuesday that it had made “significant progress” in dealing with the cyberattack and expected the “vast majority” of its plants to be operating on Wednesday.

“Our systems are coming back online and we are not sparing any resources to fight this threat,” Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA, said in a statement.

Earlier, the White House said JBS had notified the US of a ransom demand from a criminal organisation likely based in Russia.

White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House and the Department of Agriculture have been in touch with the company several times this week.

JBS is the second-largest producer of beef, pork, and chicken in the US.

If it were to shut down for even one day, the US would lose almost a quarter of its beef-processing capacity, or the equivalent of 20,000 beef cows, according to Trey Malone, an assistant professor of agriculture at Michigan State University.

The closures reflect the reality that modern meat processing plants are heavily automated, for both food- and worker-safety reasons.

Computers collect data at multiple stages of the production process, and orders, billing, shipping and other functions are all electronic.

JBS, which has not stated publicly that the attack was ransomware, said the cyberattack affected servers supporting its operations in North America and Australia.

Backup servers weren't affected and it said it was not aware of any customer, supplier, or employee data being compromised.

JBS plants in Australia resumed limited operations as of Wednesday in New South Wales and Victoria states, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said.

The company hoped to resume work in Queensland state on Thursday, he said.

JBS is the largest meat and food processing company in Australia, with 47 facilities including abattoirs, feedlots and meat processing sites.

Littleproud said his department and Australian law enforcement officials were due to meet with their counterparts in the US on Wednesday.

Even before the attack, US meat prices were rising due to coronavirus shutdowns, bad weather, and high plant absenteeism.

Malone said the disruption could further raise meat prices ahead of summer barbecues.

The US Department of Agriculture estimates beef prices will climb 1%-2% this year, poultry as much as 1.5%, and pork 2%-3%.

JBS, which is a majority shareholder of Pilgrim's Pride, didn't say which of its 84 US facilities were closed Monday and Tuesday because of the attack.

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