JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, said in a statement Wednesday that it had paid “the equivalent of $11 million” to the criminal organization REvil to resolve a May ransomware attack that led to the shutdown of all of its U.S. plants as well as some in other countries. “The company made the decision to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated,” the statement reads. It is as yet unclear whether the hack has led to meat shortages in the U.S. Earlier in May, the Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest oil pipelines in the country, was taken offline by a ransomware attack, and the pipeline’s owner paid millions in Bitcoin as ransom, a portion of which was then recovered by the FBI.
