Meat processor paid $11 million in ransom to hackers.
A billboard in Brazil for the meatpacking giant JBS. The chief executive said the decision to pay a ransom to hackers was “very difficult.”Credit...Paulo Whitaker/Reuters
The world’s largest meat processor said on Wednesday that it paid an $11 million ransom in Bitcoin to the hackers behind an attack that forced the shutdown last week of all the company’s U.S. beef plants and disrupted operations at poultry and pork plants.
The company, JBS, said in a statement that the decision to pay the ransom was made to protect its data and hedge against risk for its customers. The company said most of its facilities were back up and running when the payment was made.