Minnesota-based farm supply and grain marketing coop Crystal Valley has become another agribusiness caught up in recent ransomware attacks.
In a Tuesday statement released by the Mankato, Minnesota-based cooperative, it said it was attacked. The following day, its website went offline. The organization serves over 2,500 farmers in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.
The coop then made a statement on its Facebook page saying the attack “has infected our … computer systems and interrupted the daily operations of our company.”
The attack left the organization unable to accept Visa, Mastercard, and Discover cards until further notice, although “local cards do work.”
“As we continue to navigate through this with the help of experts, we appreciate your patience and understanding. We will continue to update with information as it becomes available,” it added.
The coop’s CEO, Roger Kienholz, told local newspapers it was “working diligently with our internal IT team along with multiple outside technology vendors to restore our data and return to full-service operation in a matter of days, especially now with fall harvest getting underway.”
What ransom cyber criminals have demanded from the small cooperative or what type of ransomware they used in the attack remains unknown. The incident comes just days after an attack on another farming cooperative.
Earlier this week, Iowa-based agricultural coop New Cooperative was hit by an attack by the BlackMatter ransomware gang.
RELATED RESOURCE
The essential cyber security toolkit for SMBs
Practical tips for cyber security training
Andrea Carcano, co-founder of Nozomi Networks, said the food supply chain, and the supply chain in general, doesn’t have strong cyber security measures in place.
“Making matters worse, our national supply chain is already stretched thin due to COVID and recent natural disasters,” he said. “Those suppliers who invest early in strong cybersecurity programs and resiliency are able to respond faster, and with less financial damage, when an attack occurs."
John Shier, senior security advisor at Sophos, told ITPro what was notable about this attack is the company's insistence that they are critical infrastructure and should therefore be spared as per BlackMatter's own policy.
“However, the operators behind BlackMatter disagree with this assessment and are continuing to pursue payment from the victim. This attack will be the first to test the new U.S. government policy on reporting attacks against critical infrastructure to CISA and the Biden administration's response to such an attack,” he said.
-
Ransomware attacks are rising — but quiet payouts could mean there's more than actually reportedNews Ransomware attacks continue to climb, but they may be even higher than official figures show as companies choose to quietly pay to make such incidents go away.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolen – and security experts say it won't be the lastNews Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
‘Phishing kits are a force multiplier': Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25 – and experts warn it’s lowering the barrier of entry for amateur hackersNews Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
Healthcare systems are rife with exploits — and ransomware gangs have noticedNews Nearly nine-in-ten healthcare organizations have medical devices that are vulnerable to exploits, and ransomware groups are taking notice.
-
Alleged LockBit developer extradited to the USNews A Russian-Israeli man has been extradited to the US amid accusations of being a key LockBit ransomware developer.
-
February was the worst month on record for ransomware attacks – and one threat group had a field day
News February 2025 was the worst month on record for the number of ransomware attacks, according to new research from Bitdefender.
-
CISA issues warning over Medusa ransomware after 300 victims from critical sectors impactedNews The Medusa ransomware as a Service operation compromised twice as many organizations at the start of 2025 compared to 2024
-
Warning issued over prolific 'Ghost' ransomware groupNews The Ghost ransomware group is known to act fast and exploit vulnerabilities in public-facing appliances
