Dairy company gets hit by a ransomware attack; reports to resume their operations after the issue is fixed

After a ransomware attack targeted Schreiber Foods, their systems are now reported to be back and running again. Schreiber Foods is a dairy company from Wisconsin, US, and was the most recent critical industry victimised by a ransomware attack. 

Schreiber Foods’ Director of Communication has reached out to security analysts to report the ransomware attack and said it had affected their systems. The incident has prevented their plants and distribution centres from using the affected systems, which is important for the operation. All of the dairy company’s locations have been impacted. 

Nonetheless, a specialised response team immediately fixed the issue that had their systems back online. 

 

According to Wisconsin State Farmer, the dairy company was extorted for about $2.5 million ransom demand from the ransomware attack. 

 

The entire milk supply chain was disrupted due to the incident. Scheiber Foods operate with different digital systems to manage their milk processing operations. The milk hauliers were forced to deliver the milk supply elsewhere while the dairy company mitigated the attack. 

The dairy company has locations throughout Europe and South America, employing thousands of workers. They also report billions of sales every year. 

According to analysts, Schreiber Foods is the most recent food sector firm hit by a ransomware attack. A few weeks ago, ransomware attacks were reported against New Cooperative and Crystal Valley – farm supplies and grain marketing cooperatives. BlackMatter ransomware is the identified threat group behind the attacks on the two agricultural firms. 

The FBI, CISA, and NSA said in an advisory that the BlackMatter ransomware has been attacking various critical infrastructures this year. In September, the FBI released a separate notice, warning organisations about the cyber attacks that target food and agriculture sectors and disrupt supply chains. Furthermore, threat groups are pursuing to disrupt company operations and supply chains; and cause monetary loss. 

Mentioned in the notice was a list of several attacks against the food and agricultural sector. It includes REvil threat group attacking a bakery company in the US, a global meat processor, a beverage company, and a beverage company. Losses to these ransomware attacks have totalled $9 million.