The global food company JBS USA has encountered an "organized cybersecurity attack" on Monday, May 31. According to the largest meat supplier, the system crash has impacted its IT systems located in Australia and North America.
Meanwhile, the Greeley, Colorado-headquartered supplier said that it has already taken care of the situation by notifying the authorities and suspending the involved servers in the process. Moreover, the company also coordinated with a group of IT experts and security analysts to look after the cyber attack.
JBS USA Cyber Attack Hits the Firm's Servers
According to JBS USA's media statement, the company is continuing to seek help from the Incident Response firm for the system restoration in the soonest possible time, despite no backup servers were hit during the attack.
The food processing corporation, at the moment, has not officially announced a statement if the attack has also had an effect on the consumers.
Last month, a cyberattack shut down the largest fuel pipeline, Colonial Pipeline, which led the US to declare a state of emergency across the country. Many people were reported to have rushed buying gasoline which quickly resulted in gas shortages.
Currently, the food supplier in the United States said that it was not aware of what could happen to each customer, employee, or supplier due to the sudden system breach that invaded its servers.
Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the cyber attack has extended to Brooks, Alberta, in Canada. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 spokesperson said that the Calgary-based beef factory has also been hit by hackers.
All in all, the JBS has been managing 84 properties in the US, while it has different branches located in 20 countries worldwide. The company said it would still take some time before they solve the case, which could spark a lot of delays when it comes to supplier and customer transactions.
Anyone Can Be Hit by a Cybersecurity Attack
Paul Rosenzweig, the previous senior official of the Department of Homeland Security, said on Monday, May 31, that "nothing is safe" from the cyberattacks, USA Today reported.
"Not the meatpacking industry, not the chemical industry, not the wastewater treatment industry, not Sony. Nothing," Rosenzweig said.
Moreover, he added that the only thing to do to guarantee safety is to entirely unplug, which companies could not do since the competition in the market continues to increase.
Rosenzweig wants the hackers to be punished since they have been causing a lot of trouble to many companies. He continued that the hackers would only "keep" on launching attacks until they get caught in the act.
While it's true that the internet allows all individuals to be anonymous, the criminal liability of the involved should not be ignored. The hackers should always receive a corresponding consequence so they would stop from doing the thing.
Related Article: Colonial Pipeline Ransomware Attack Hikes Cyber Insurance Prices; Energy Companies Scramble to Get One
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Joseph Henry
