Market News & Headlines >> Slaughter Disruptions from JBS Cyber-Attack Minimized

JBS SA, the world's largest meat processing company, has resumed most production after a weekend cyberattack and livestock slaughter levels in North America and Australia are returning to normal.

The attack affected servers supporting JBS's operations in North America and Australia. Backup servers weren't affected, and the company said it was not aware of any customer, supplier or employee data being compromised.

Most JBS operations resumed on Wednesday, "including all of our pork, poultry and prepared foods facilities around the world and the majority of our beef facilities in the U.S. and Australia," JBS USA Chief Executive Andre Nogueira said in a Wednesday press release.

“Given the progress our teams have made to address this situation, we anticipate operating at close to full capacity across our global operations tomorrow,” Nogueira added.

U.S. federally inspected cattle slaughter on Tuesday ran only 94,000 head, down from 121,000 a week earlier and 115,000 a year earlier amid the JBS slaughter disruptions. Wednesday slaughter was estimated at 105,000 head, versus 120,000 a week earlier and 114,000 a year earlier. Thursday slaughter is expected to recover to 119,000 head.

The cyberattack has been attributed to a Russia-linked cyber gang that goes by the name REvil and Sodinokibi, which reportedly demanded a ransom from JBS. JBS hasn't discussed the ransom demand in its public statements. 

Meanwhile, although JBS plants are back up and running, experts say vulnerabilities exposed by this attack and others are far from resolved.