Iowa firm New Cooperative admitted last week that it has been the latest victim of a large-scale Cyberattack — a ransomware attack by the BlackMatter consortium of cyber criminals. BlackMatter infected New Cooperative’s systems and demanded $5.9 million before they would return control of the network.
The attack forced New Cooperative to temporary halt its business and shut-down computer systems, threatening its ability to continue supplying grain for animal feed to livestock and poultry farms across the USA.
The cyberattack is the latest in a number of other high profile incidents that have occurred this year, including that of the Colonial Pipeline and JBS, the world’s largest meat-packer. Most such events are resolved (usually through payment of the ransoms demanded by hackers) but each has led to significant supply shortages in the short to medium term that have gone on to affect average Americans.
Colonial Pipeline was forced to pay a ransom of $5 million in Bitcoin to the hackers that infected its networks and forced it to temporarily shut down its pipeline which carries gasoline from Texas to the East Coast USA. The closure caused panic buying and fuel shortages, even though a large proportion of the ransom paid in Bitcoin was tracked and recovered by the FBI.
It demonstrated the effects of fear and altered human behavior have the power to compound effects from such cybercrime.
Short-term closures, long-term problems?
A statement issued by New Cooperative confirmed that computer systems had been taken down by their own system administrators as a precautionary measure while the hack was resolved and control of infrastructure restored.
The hack demonstrates once again that while such events can cost businesses financially, often the effects are felt by average Americans on the street who are impacted through the loss of supplies they rely on.
It also highlights that hacking consortia around the world (and specifically in the case of these events — from within Russia) are getting wise to the firms that are easy targets for being attacked. These examples also demonstrate that industrial firms and infrastructure providers have typically invested less in cybersecurity protection and prevention than banks and tech firms.
The lack of proactive investment clearly has consequences, and it came to light that Colonial Pipeline hadn’t even got a Cyber Security manager employed within its business in the weeks prior to the attack.
Hackers have realised that the disruption that can be caused by forcing industrial firms to temporarily cease operations while they deal with cyber attacks is a powerful motivator for them to pay ransoms demanded. The disruption affects more than profitability and reputation of the firm. When it impacts upon the lives and livelihoods of customers and dependent businesses too, the urgency with which firms feel pressured to resolve the attack (by paying up) seems to increase.
Could food shortages follow?
Farmers who are dependent on animal feed from New Cooperative may find that supplies aren’t forthcoming as needed or expected. This could impact upon their ability to meet demand from supermarkets and other consumers for their end-product, and so the effects from the hack continue to knock-on throughout the supply chain.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains all over the world as production in many industries was halted and shortages followed. While businesses are still trying to recover from this, food shortages continue to be witnessed in the USA and across the world.
Haulage firms too are struggling to recruit adequate numbers of drivers to transport goods across the country which isn’t helping. Labor shortages are contributing to issues of supply across the country. Similar problems are being experienced in the UK, and these too are causing fuel shortages as logistics firm that would deliver gasoline and diesel around the nation are disrupted by driver shortages.
Cyberattacks such as the one suffered by Iowa’s New Cooperative have their own impacts which exacerbate these issue.
The combined effects of these events could well be that we get used to seeing empty shelves in supermarkets as supplies of goods fails to keep up with demand.
The opportunistic cyberattacks by criminals upon industrial firms and those businesses that sustain national infrastructure are making an already complex situation worse. The only hope must be that businesses make efforts to be better prepared-for and protected-against cyber criminals in future.
…
If you enjoy reading stories like these and would to like to support writers on Medium, consider signing up to become a Medium member. It’s $5 a month, giving you unlimited access to stories. If you sign up using my link, I’ll earn a small commission.
—
This post was previously published on medium.com.
************
You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project
**************
Photo credit: FLY:D on Unsplash