Meat Plants Forced to Shutdown After Cyberattack

An unprecedented cyberattack on JBS SA, the largest producer of meat in the world, has now forced the shutdown of multiple meat processing plants across the world and is set to see the price of beef potentially skyrocket.

As Yahoo News reports:

JBS’s beef plant in Canada, one of the nation’s largest, was shut down on Monday following the May 30 attack. The company’s slaughter operations in Australia had been halted, a trade group said. A number of plants in the U.S. have been shut and shifts canceled, according to labor union representatives.

The prospect of more extensive shutdowns around the world is already upending agricultural markets and raising concerns about food security as hackers increasingly target critical infrastructure. Livestock futures slumped. In the U.S. alone, JBS accounts for almost a quarter of all beef capacity.

The world’s largest meat producer shut its North American and Australian computer networks after an organized assault on Sunday on some of its servers, the company said by email. Without commenting on operations at its plants, JBS said the incident may delay certain transactions with customers and suppliers.

The owner of Pilgrim’s Pride has closed meat processing facilities in Utah, Texas and Wisconsin and canceled shifts at plants in Iowa and Colorado on Tuesday, according to union officials and employees. Union Facebook posts also said some kill and fabrication shifts in the U.S. have also been canceled. JBS didn’t provide comment on U.S. plant closures, though the company said its Brazilian plants are operating normally.

This is the second major cyberattack on key US infrastructure in weeks, after the hack of the Colonial pipeline caused gas shortages across the east coast, with that in mind is it past time to raise the question of whether President Biden, especially in light of his inaction, is competent enough to deal with such new and potentially destabilizing attacks?

Matthew Williams