Ransomware (extortion): Agriculture, USA 2021
In September 2021, the BlackMatter group attacked the grain cooperative with more than 50 sites and demanded 5.9 million dollars, doubled if paid after five days.
- Incident · 09.2021 · Iowa (Fort Dodge), USA
- Evidence: confirmed by an authority
- Ransomware (extortion)
As of
What happened
The cooperative took its systems offline and set up workarounds to continue accepting grain and delivering feed. During the negotiations, the perpetrators warned that the supply chain would soon collapse.
- Affected
- NEW Cooperative
- Industry
- Agriculture
- Loss
- no reliable figure
- Business interruption
- unknown
- Ransom demanded / paid
- yes / unknown
- Data affected
- unknown
- 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.
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
Harvest time is peak season for extortionists; farms need manual fallback processes precisely then.
Sources
- US farmer cooperative hit by $5.9M BlackMatter ransomware attack (opens in a new window) BleepingComputer · 2021-09-20
- Iowa Grain Cooperative Hacked (opens in a new window) DTN/Progressive Farmer · 2021-09-20