First, the Russian hackers threw the nation into a panic over a potential gas shortage. As if this was not enough to deal with, the Russian hackers are now coming after our food supplies. Is nothing sacred? With July 4th right around the corner, we find ourselves wondering if they are coming after our fireworks.
Meat processor JBS was forced to take a number of their plants offline in the United States because of the latest attack. Now, the nation’s food supply is at risk because the Russians are attacking again. COVID-19 is starting to fade into the rear view at long last but there is more to the story.
The Russians are looking to plunge us into another period of total uncertainty. This is what happens when you have a doddering oldster at the helm. Our enemies will stop at nothing to make sure that we are brought to our knees. These are the things that simply did not happen when Donald Trump was given the chance to lead us.
“As long as it’s a business model, they’re going to keep hacking,” Lior Div says. The hackers have already been identified as Russians and this is also being described as a “war situation”. The major players are receiving major criticism for their usage of old technology to keep their systems protected. JBS, for their part, is claiming that they have planned for this and they are already in the process of handling their recovery response.
The majority of the facilities that were affected are slated to come back online by now, so this may be much ado about nothing. It still doesn’t say much about Joe Biden’s ability to keep us protected from these sorts of threats. CBS News has more about the response from JBS:
“The ransomware attack posed a possible threat to the U.S. food supply. JBS is the top beef producer in the U.S. and the No. 2 producer of pork and poultry. Depending on how long the halt in operations continues, Americans could see prices rise in the meat aisle at the grocery store.
“I think a lot of that depends upon how long this lasts. If indeed, JBS is unable to slaughter cattle or hogs over a sustained period and really even a matter of days, then yes, because the production is limited greatly,” said Brad Kooima, a cattle feeder and co-owner of Kooima Kooima Varilek Trading.
JBS said in a Tuesday night statement that it had made “significant progress” in resolving the issue and getting its systems back online.
“We have cybersecurity plans in place to address these types of issues and we are successfully executing those plans,” JBS USA CEO Andre Nogueira said. “Given the progress our IT professionals and plant teams have made in the last 24 hours, the vast majority of our beef, pork, poultry and prepared foods plants will be operational [Wednesday].”
JBS told the White House that a criminal group likely based in Russia was responsible. The FBI is leading the investigation and Biden administration officials are asking the Russian government for an explanation.”
What is the response going to be from the United States, though? Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin are slated to meet in less than two weeks, in a meeting that looks more and more ill advised by the second. Putin is not really trying to be subtle about these attacks, either. He’s recently warned that he would be sending “uncomfortable signals” to the United States before the summit took place. CNBC issued a chilling warning from the Russians:
“The Americans must assume that a number of signals from Moscow … will be uncomfortable for them, including in the coming days,” Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.” This is pretty cut and dry. There’s no subtlety and no room for differing interpretations. Hopefully, the good folks over at JBS have a recovery plan that is foolproof.
