14 DAY TRIAL // Meat supplier JBS USA announced in a statement Wednesday night that it had paid an $11 million ransom in response to a cyberattack that forced the shutdown of its entire U.S. beef processing plant last week, says abc NEWS.
The company also says that the ransom was paid after most of the company's operations were brought back online.
Andre Nogueira, CEO of JBS USA stated "This was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally".
"However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers".
The ransom was paid to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the hack and ensure that no data was exfiltrated, the company said.
The FBI blamed Russian hackers for the cyberattack earlier this month. JBS stated that it was in constant contact with federal officials and that while investigations are ongoing, preliminary findings show that no corporate, customer, or employee data was exposed.
According to the company, it spends $200 million each year on IT services.
JBS is not the first company that has paid cybercriminals a ransom
Colonial Pipeline was also hit by a ransomware attack last month and had to pay $4.4 million in Bitcoin to cybercriminal organization DarkSide to regain access to its data.
Federal government officials have urged companies not to pay ransom to cybercriminals.
In an exclusive interview with Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday that he understands the complexities and issues companies face when they choose to pay the ransom, as Colonial did.
Mayorkas also stated "That is putting profit in the pockets of the criminal and only motivating them to continue their criminal behavior. So we do not support the payment of the ransomware. But at the same time here we understand the challenge that a company faces".