Ransomware (extortion): Food, USA 2021
On 30 May 2021, the REvil group hit the world’s largest meat company; slaughterhouses in the USA, Australia and Canada came to a standstill.
- Incident · 05.2021 · USA, Australia, Canada, USA
- Evidence: confirmed by an authority
- Ransomware (extortion)
As of
What happened
JBS paid the equivalent of 11 million dollars in Bitcoin, even though most systems were already running again, in order to prevent publication of the data and further problems. According to reports, around a fifth of US slaughter capacity for beef and pork was temporarily lost.
- Affected
- JBS
- Industry
- Food
- Loss
- no reliable figure
- Business interruption
- unknown
- Ransom demanded / paid
- yes / yes
- Data affected
- true
- Bankruptcy
- no
- Entry point
- not stated in the sources
What would cyber insurance have paid?
That depends on the terms. Whether those affected were insured: unknown.
-
Help and negotiation; only some insurers pay the ransom, see note
Mostly add-on 6 of 9 business products cover it fully, as an add-on or with limits.
-
Loss of income after an attack
Business interruption, only after the waiting period
Mostly covered 7 of 9 business products cover it fully, as an add-on or with limits.
-
Property damage caused by an attack
Spoiled goods, damaged machine
Mostly not covered 0 of 9 business products cover it fully, as an add-on or with limits.
Overview based on public policy terms, as of 06.11.2026. Only your policy and its general terms and conditions (GTC) are binding. No confirmation of cover.
What we can learn
In food production, an IT outage immediately stops slaughter, refrigeration and supply chains.
Sources
- JBS paid $11 million in response to ransomware attack (opens in a new window) CNBC · 2021-06-09
- Meat supplier JBS paid ransomware hackers $11 million (opens in a new window) NBC News · 2021-06-09