James Lowe, Director of the I-Learning Center at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, highlights the importance of discussing potential livestock industry vulnerabilities in the wake of a ransomware attack that shut down nine JBS beef plants.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday that it continues to investigate the weekend cyberattack on JBS, revealing that the May 30 attack was the work of a Russian ransomware gang. The incident, which shut down nine beef plants across the U.S., was the latest cyberattack on U.S. infrastructure and one of the first in the food production industry to gain widespread media attention.
While JBS said that production at all JBS USA and Pilgrim’s Pride facilities resumed Thursday, the incident highlighted the potential vulnerabilities of our technologically advanced, digitally-oriented food production and processing system.
In this episode we talk with Professor James Lowe, director of the I-Learning Center at the University of Illinois’ College of Veterinary Medicine. Lowe says disruptions anywhere in the food animal supply chain cause major impacts up and down that chain. COVID-19 was the most recent major disruption to the meat industry, but he says this cyberattack exposes another vulnerability in a highly-mechanized industry.
This episode is sponsored by United Animal Health, a leader in animal health and nutrition. You can learn more about United Animal Health and how they are working to advance animal science worldwide by visiting their website UnitedANH.com.