What did the worlds largest meat company do to decipher its penetration?
Washington (AFP)  Paid JBS, which is among the largest meat processing companies in the world, an amount in Bitcoin, equivalent to an amount of $ 11 million as a ransom to hackers to prevent it from being further paralyzed, after a major cyber attack it was recently exposed to. It was the second multi-million dollar ransom offered to hackers in recent weeks, drawing attention to the broader threat that malware poses to essential infrastructure, services and businesses. The hackers targeted the computer systems of the Brazil-based JBS Group last week, affecting its operations in the United States, Australia and Canada. On Wednesday, the companys US subsidiary confirmed the payment of a ransom of 11 million euros. It was a very difficult decision for our company, and for me personally, that we were forced to make, said Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA. However, we felt that this decision was necessary to avoid any potential risks to our customers, he added. The company said it made the payment to eliminate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and to ensure that no data was leaked.  Nogueira told the Wall Street Journal that the ransom was paid in Bitcoin. The GPS attack was the second of its kind on a significant US target in recent weeks. A cyber attack in May temporarily shut down the Colonial Pipeline network in the eastern United States. Colonial paid a ransom of $4.4 million to regain control and resume operations. The US Department of Justice returned a bitcoin equivalent of $2.3 million, as it tracked the ransom while the amount moved through several anonymous transfers until it was recovered from a cryptocurrency wallet. The GPS and Colonial pipeline attack came after the SolarWinds software hack in 2020. Microsoft warned a short time ago that the Russian state-backed group that was behind the Solar Windows attack was the same that carried out several attacks targeting government agencies, research centers and others. The White House did not directly blame the Kremlin for the recent attacks, but rather indicated that criminal groups operate from within Russia. But White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that responsible states do not give sanctuary to cybercriminals. The attacks became so frequent that the Ministry of Justice raised the level of seriousness of this issue to the level of terrorist attacks. The malware targets include local authorities, hospitals, insurance companies, and even gateway services. And $18 billion was paid to hackers last year, according to security firm Emsysoft. It counted tens of thousands of victims so far in 2021.