For the second time in as many months, a major link in the U.S. supply chain has been hampered due to hackers launching a ransomware attack.
This week, a global meat supplier was hit. Last month, a main East Coast pipeline was shut down for days, creating panic over possible gas shortages.
Today, the FBI is probing an attack targeting the agency which oversees ferry services between mainland Massachusetts and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
The high-profile incidents show “that nothing is safe,” former senior Department of Homeland Security official Paul Rosenzweig told USA Today. “Not the meatpacking industry, not the chemical industry, not the wastewater treatment industry, not Sony. Nothing.”
“And the only way to be safe in this world is to unplug completely. And you can’t do that and be economically competitive,” added Rosenzweig, a Cybersecurity and Emerging Threats senior fellow at the non-partisan R Street Institute public policy research organization in Washington, D.C.
Let’s look at five high-profile attacks.
JBS meat packing cyberattack
This week, the world’s largest meat supplier reported it was the target of an “organized cybersecurity attack.”
The company reportedly shut down its five biggest U.S. plants in the wake of a cyberattack.
JBS said the attack affected servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems. If and how the attack will affect consumers is not yet known.
The latest:JBS USA, world’s largest meat supplier, shuts down 9 beef plants after cyberattack
Colonial Pipeline shutdown
In may, a ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline brought down a a key artery in the nation’s energy infrastructure that transports fuel across the East Coast.
Worried motorists flocked to southern U.S. service stations resulting in widespread outages and caps on purchases.
The Colonial Pipeline Co. reportedly paid a $5 million ransom to cyberattackers to end the shutdown. The FBI identified a criminal group known as DarkSide as being responsible for the cyberattack.
The payoff:Colonial Pipeline reportedly pays $5M in cryptocurrency to hackers to end ransomware cyberattack