10/9/2021 - Intel Drop Update #5 (Cyberattack shuts down US grain distributor)
Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2021 8:28 pm
Cyberattack shuts down US grain distributor — (this is the third attack/distributor). At least three U.S. grain distributors’ systems have been infected with ransomware in recent weeks, raising concerns that hackers have found an easy target in a vital part of the U.S. food supply chain. All three known victims are Midwestern grain cooperatives that buy grain from farmers and then process, store and resell it for uses like livestock feed and fuel. The attacks, in which organized cybercriminals lock up organizations’ computers and demand ransom for a program to unlock them, has slowed the distributors’ operations, hampering their ability to quickly process grain as it comes in. The timing is particularly bad, said Charles Hurburgh, the head of Iowa State University’s Grain Quality Laboratory. “We’re going into harvest, and right now is when they’re taking in a large amount of grain and putting out a large amount of grain,” Hurburgh said. “It’s a real nasty situation.”