An Iowa-based farm service provider NEW Cooperative was hit by a major BlackMatter ransomware attack.
NEW Cooperative offers feed, fertilizer, crop protection and seed resources across 36 operating locations in Iowa. The company also provides grain marketing and storage services.
According to a ZDNet report, NEW Cooperative did not release any details on the ransomware attack, but did confirm with Bloomberg news that it suffered from a “cybersecurity incident” and further took systems down to contain the cyber threat.
According to a researcher on Twitter, the BlackMatter ransomware group had demanded a ransom of $5.9 million against the farm service provider:
Although previous claims by the cyber gang in the past said they would not attack critical infrastructure, the recent attack appears the actors do not play by any sort of “rules.”
Moreover, the recent attacks come after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a cybersecurity alert earlier this month warning of increasing ransomware attacks against the Food and Agriculture sector.
In May 2021, a ransomware attack also hit JBS USA, world’s largest global meat producer, with a variant of the Sodinokibi/REvil ransomware.
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