JBS pays $11 million ransom following cyber attack
The White House says a Russian state-backed hacking group was behind the ransomware attack


JBS Foods has paid an $11 million (£7.8 million) ransom to hackers who had compromised its IT systems late last month, the firm confirmed on Wednesday.
The company, which is the largest processor of meat in the world and produces close to a quarter of the US' beef, fell victim to a ransomware attack orchestrated by unknown actors on 30 May. The firm was forced to suspend all affected systems and, in some areas, shut down production for 24 hours.
On 3 June, JBS announced that the attack had been resolved and that all of its systems were operational again, adding that there was no evidence to suspect that "any customer, supplier or employee data [had] been compromised or misused as a result of the situation".
Despite the attack coming to an end, the company has now confirmed that it had made a ransom payment to the attackers, totalling $11 million (£7.8 million) in Bitcoin.
JBS US CEO Andre Nogueira described the decision as a "difficult" one to make.
"However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers," he added.
JBS also confirmed in a statement that "at the time of payment, the vast majority of the company's facilities were operational".
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
The decision had been reached in consultation with JBS' internal IT professionals as well as third-party cyber security experts in order to "mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated."
However, it also reiterated that "preliminary investigation results confirm that no company, customer or employee data was compromised" in the attack.
RELATED RESOURCE
Defend your organisation from evolving ransomware attacks
Learn what it takes to reduce risk and strengthen operational resiliency
Last week, the White House attributed blame for the attack to a Russian state-backed hacking group, described by the FBI as "one of the most specialised and sophisticated cybercriminal groups in the world".
This prompted President Joe Biden to issue a warning to Russia on Thursday:
"The United States will respond in a robust and meaningful way if the Russian government engages in harmful activities," he said as he arrived in the UK for the G7 summit, as part of his first overseas trip as president.
Having only graduated from City University in 2019, Sabina has already demonstrated her abilities as a keen writer and effective journalist. Currently a content writer for Drapers, Sabina spent a number of years writing for ITPro, specialising in networking and telecommunications, as well as charting the efforts of technology companies to improve their inclusion and diversity strategies, a topic close to her heart.
Sabina has also held a number of editorial roles at Harper's Bazaar, Cube Collective, and HighClouds.
-
How to implement a four-day week in tech
In-depth More companies are switching to a four-day week as they look to balance employee well-being with productivity
-
Intelligence sharing: The boost for businesses
In-depth Intelligence sharing with peers is essential if critical sectors are to be protected
-
Hackers breached a 158 year old company by guessing an employee password – experts say it’s a ‘pertinent reminder’ of the devastating impact of cyber crime
News A Panorama documentary exposed hackers' techniques and talked to the teams trying to tackle them
-
The ransomware boom shows no signs of letting up – and these groups are causing the most chaos
News Thousands of ransomware cases have already been posted on the dark web this year
-
Everything we know about the Ingram Micro cyber attack so far
News A cyber attack on Ingram Micro severely disrupted operations and has been claimed by the SafePay ransomware group.
-
A prolific ransomware group says it’s shutting down and giving out free decryption keys to victims – but cyber experts warn it's not exactly a 'gesture of goodwill'
News The Hunters International ransomware group is rebranding and switching tactics
-
Swiss government data published following supply chain attack – here’s what we know about the culprits
News Radix, a non-profit organization in the health promotion sector, supplies a number of federal offices, whose data has apparently been accessed.
-
Ransomware victims are getting better at haggling with hackers
News While nearly half of companies paid a ransom to get their data back last year, victims are taking an increasingly hard line with hackers to strike fair deals.
-
LockBit data dump reveals a treasure trove of intel on the notorious hacker group
News An analysis of May's SQL database dump shows how much LockBit was really making
-
‘I take pleasure in thinking I can rid society of at least some of them’: A cyber vigilante is dumping information on notorious ransomware criminals – and security experts say police will be keeping close tabs
News An anonymous whistleblower has released large amounts of data allegedly linked to the ransomware gangs