Hackers who stole into the world’s largest meat processing company’s computer system late last month were paid the equivalent of $11 million, according to the business.
JBS SA, based in Brazil, announced on May 31 that it had been the victim of a ransomware attack, but it wasn’t until Wednesday that the company’s US division verified that it had paid the ransom.
JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira remarked, “This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally.” “However, we felt it was necessary to make this choice in order to avoid any potential danger to our customers.”
Although the vast majority of JBS’s facilities were working at the time of the payment, the company opted to pay to avoid any unforeseen complications and ensure that no data was leaked.
REvil, a Russian-speaking group that has made some of the highest ransomware demands in recent months, has been blamed by the FBI for the attack. The FBI stated that it will endeavour to bring the organisation to justice, and that anyone who has been a victim of a hack should notify the bureau right now.
Servers supporting JBS’ operations in North America and Australia were targeted in the attack. For several days, production was halted.
The Justice Department revealed earlier this week that it had recovered the majority of a multimillion-dollar ransom payment made by Colonial Pipeline, the nation’s largest fuel pipeline operator.
Colonial paid a ransom of 75 bitcoins to a Russian hacker organisation in early May, worth about $4.4 million at the time. As US officials struggle to combat a fast increasing danger threatening important businesses around the world, the operation to seize Bitcoin was a rare win in the fight against ransomware.
It was unclear whether JBS also paid the ransom in bitcoin.
JBS claims to spend more than $200 million on IT each year and to employ more than 850 IT specialists around the world.
According to the organisation, forensic examinations are still ongoing, but no company, customer, or employee data has been stolen.
