The world's biggest meat processor has paid an $11 million ransom after a cyberattack

• JBS is the world's largest meat processing company.
• It said it was hit by a cyberattack on May 31, and that it has now paid $11 million to the hackers.
• Its CEO said it "was a very difficult decision to make for our company and for me personally."

The world's largest meat processing company said it paid $11 million to hackers after it was the victim of a ransomware attack.

JBS said it was hit by a cyberattack on May 31, and the FBI has accused the REvil hacking group, which is linked to Russia, of being behind it.

The company said on Wednesday that it decided to make the payment "to mitigate any unforeseen issues related to the attack and ensure no data was exfiltrated" after talking to external experts.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

The Wall Street Journal reported the ransom was paid in Bitcoin.

The attack forced some production to a halt, threatening to shut down up to a fifth of US beef and pork capacity. JBS said that it had no evidence that its data was compromised.

Andre Nogueira, the CEO of JBS USA, said in the Wednesday statement: "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."

REvil has been involved in several high-profile hacks and ransom demands. In May 2020 it stole files from a top entertainment law firm whose clients included stars like Lady Gaga and Drake. In April of this year it claimed to have stolen blueprints from Apple and demanded a $50 million ransom - though its ransom demand mysteriously disappeared from REvil's site a few days later as reported by Macrumors.

JBS' announcement also comes the same week the FBI was able to recover a huge chunk of a high-profile ransom paid to another hacking group by paid by Colonial Pipeline.